Kerioth will be taken, and the strongholds will be conquered, and the hearts of the warriors of Moab will be on that day like [the] heart of a woman [who] is in labor.

For I have sworn by myself," {declares} Yahweh, "that Bozrah will become as a horror, as a disgrace, as a waste, and as a curse. And all her towns will be {everlasting sites of ruins}."

{Therefore} hear the plan of Yahweh that he has planned against Edom, and his plans that he has planned against the inhabitants of Teman. {Surely} they will drag them away, the little [ones] of the flock. {Surely} he will cause to be desolated over them their grazing place.

Look, like an eagle he will go up and he will swoop down, and he will spread out his wings against Bozrah. And the heart of the warriors of Edom will be in that day like [the] heart of a woman [who] is in labor.

{Therefore} her young men will fall in her public squares, and all {the soldiers} will perish in that day," {declares} Yahweh of hosts.

Concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon defeated. Thus says Yahweh: "Rise up, go up against Kedar and destroy [the] people of [the] east.

The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the king of Judah, {saying},

The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of [the] Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:

In those days and in that time,'" {declares} Yahweh, "the people of Israel will come, they and the people of Judah together. {Weeping as they go}, they will go, and Yahweh their God they will seek.

They will ask [the] way [to] Zion, [turning] their faces there. They will come and join themselves to Yahweh [by] {an everlasting covenant} [that] will not be forgotten.

In those days and at that time," {declares} Yahweh, "the guilt of Israel will be sought, but there [is] none, and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found, for I will forgive those I left behind.

To the land of Merathaim, go up against her, and against the inhabitants of Pekod, massacre and destroy them," {declares} Yahweh, "and do according to all that I have commanded you.

Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend [the] bow. Encamp all around her, there must not be for her an escape. Take revenge on her according to her deeds. According to all that she has done, [so] do to her. For against Yahweh she has behaved insolently, against the Holy One of Israel.

{Therefore} her young men will fall in her public squares, and all {her soldiers} will perish on that day," {declares} Yahweh.

A sword against his horses, and against his chariots, and against all the foreign troops who [are] in the midst of her, so that they may become as women. A sword against her treasures, so that they may be plundered.

{Therefore} hear the plan of Yahweh that he has planned against Babylon, and his plans that he has planned against the land of [the] Chaldeans. {Surely} they will drag them away, the little [ones] of the flock. {Surely} he will cause [their] grazing place to be desolate over them.

Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. Because his plan concerning Babylon [is] to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance for his temple.

And I will repay Babylon, and all the inhabitants of Chaldea, all their wickedness that they have done in Zion before your eyes," {declares} Yahweh.

"Look, I [am] against you, O mountain of the destruction," {declares} Yahweh, "the [one] that destroys the whole earth. And I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will roll you down from the cliffs, and I will make you as a mountain burned away.

[one] runner runs to meet [another] runner, and [one] messenger to meet [another] messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured, {from end to end}.

At their becoming hot I will set their banquets, and I will make them drunk, so that they will fall into a swoon, and they will sleep {an everlasting sleep}, and they will not wake up," {declares} Yahweh.

Now {so that you are not fainthearted}, and you are afraid at the rumors that are heard in the land-- and in the year the rumor comes, and in the year after it the rumor, and violence [is] in the land, with ruler against ruler--

Then [the] heaven and [the] earth and all that [is] in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for from [the] north the destroyers will come to it," {declares} Yahweh.

The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, at his going with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, [to] Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah [was the] {quartermaster}.

And Jeremiah wrote all the disasters that would come on Babylon in one scroll, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "At your coming [to] Babylon, then you must see [that] you read aloud all these words.

And you must say, 'Yahweh, you yourself spoke against this place, to destroy it, so that [there will] not be in it [anything] living, from humankind to animals, for it will be {an everlasting desolation}.'

And you must say, 'Babylon will sink, and she will not rise, {because of} the face of the disasters that I [am] bringing on her, and they will grow weary.'" {Thus far} the words of Jeremiah.

And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh like all that Jehoiakim had done.

Then the city was breached, and all {the soldiers} fled and went out from the city [by] night [by the] way of [the] gate between the two walls that [are] at the garden of the king, though [the] Chaldeans [were] all around the city. And they went [in] the direction of the Jordan Valley.

And [the] Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that [were] in the {temple} of Yahweh, and the kettle stands and the sea of bronze that [were] in the {temple} of Yahweh, and they carried all their bronze [to] Babylon.

The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze oxen that [were] under the kettle stands which King Solomon had made for the {temple} of Yahweh--there was not a weight for the bronze of all these vessels!

How desolate the city sits [that] was full of people! She has become like a widow, [once] great among the nations! Like a woman of nobility in the provinces, she has become a forced laborer.

All her majesty has gone away from the daughter of Zion; her princes have become like young stags that have not found pasture; they have gone away without strength, before the pursuer.

Jerusalem remembers the days of her misery and wanderings, all her treasures that were from the days of long ago. When her people fell into [the] hand of the enemy, there was no one helping her; the enemies saw her, they mocked at her destruction.

Zion stretches out her hands; there is no one to comfort her. Yahweh has commanded against Jacob, [that] those surrounding him [should be] his enemies; Jerusalem has become a defilement among them.

See, O Yahweh, that {I am in distress}; {my stomach} is in torment, my heart has turned inside me because I have certainly rebelled. From outside a sword brings bereavement, inside the house [it is] like death.

They hear that I was groaning; [there is] no comforter for me. All my enemies have heard my misery, they are pleased that you have done it. Bring [that] day that you have proclaimed, And let them be like me.

What can I say for you? What can I compare to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you so that I can comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your destruction [is] as vast as the sea; who can heal you?

Yahweh has done what he has planned; he has fulfilled his promise that he ordained from the days of old; he has demolished and not shown mercy; he has made an enemy rejoice over you, he has exalted the {might} of your foes.

Yahweh is good to those who wait on him, to the person that seeks him.

[Is] it not from the mouth of the Most High [that] disaster and good will come?

You have covered yourself in a cloud {so that prayer cannot pass through}.

[The] kings of [the] earth did not believe, and all [the] inhabitants of [the] world, that a foe and an enemy could enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

Still our eyes failed, [looking for] our help in vain; in our watchtower, we kept watch for a nation that could not save.

Restore us to you, O Yahweh, that we will be restored; renew our days as of old.

And I saw the living creatures, and look! A wheel was on the earth beside {each of the living creatures that had four faces}.

And there was a sound from above the expanse that [was] above their heads, {and when they stood} they lowered their wings.

And from above the expanse that [was] above their heads [there was] the likeness of a throne, {looking like a sapphire}, and above the likeness of the throne [was] a likeness similar to [the] appearance of a human on it, [but] {above it}.

Like the appearance of a bow that is in the cloud on {a rainy day}, such [was] the radiance around it; [thus was] the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh. And I saw, and I fell on my face, and I heard a voice speaking.

And he said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, so that I can speak with you."

And they, whether they listen or whether they fail [to listen], for they [are] a rebellious house, they will know that a prophet was in their midst.

and he said to me, "Son of man, you must give your stomach [this] to eat, and you must fill your belly [with] this scroll that I [am] giving to you." And I ate, and it became {like sweet honey} in my mouth.

And he said to me, "Son of man, all of my words that I shall speak to you, receive into your heart and hear with your ears.

{When I say} to the wicked, 'Surely you will die,' and you do not warn him and you do not speak to warn [the] wicked from his wicked way {so that he may live}, that wicked [person] will die because of his guilt, and from your hand I will seek his blood.

And {when the righteous turns from his righteousness} and does injustice, and I place a stumbling block {before him}, he will die, for you did not warn him. Because of his sin he will die, and his righteousness that he did will not be remembered, and his blood I shall seek from your hand.

And I rose up, and I went to the valley, and, look, there the glory of Yahweh [was] standing, like the glory that I saw near the {Kebar River}, and I fell on my face.

And you, lie down on your left side, and you must put the guilt of the house of Israel on it. You will carry their guilt the number of days that you will lie on it.

"And you, take for yourself wheat and barley and beans and lentils and millet and spelt, and you must put them in one vessel, and you must make them for yourself into a food [during] the number of days that you [are] lying on your side; three hundred and ninety days you shall eat it.

And your food that you will eat [will be] according to weight; twenty shekels for each day {at fixed times} you shall eat it.

so that they will lack food and water, and they will be appalled {with one another}, and they will waste away because of their guilt.

But she has rebelled against my regulations to the point of wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that [are] around her; for they rejected my regulations, and [as for] my statutes, they did not walk in them.

Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of your commotion more than the nations that [are] around you--you did not walk in my statutes, and you did not do my regulations, and according to the regulations of the nations that [are] around you, you did not do.

and I will do with you [that] which I have not done, and which I will not do again, because of all of your detestable things.

And my anger will come to an end, and I will place my rage on them, and I will relent, and they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my passion {when I fully vent my rage against them}.

And I will make you into a desolate place and into a disgrace among the nations that surround you before the eyes of {every one who passes by}.

And it will be [an] object of taunting and [an] object of mockery, a warning and a horror to the nations that [are] around you whenever I execute judgments against you in anger and in wrath and in furious punishments! I, Yahweh, have spoken!

When I send my arrows of deadly famine against them, which will be as destruction that I will send [in order] to destroy you, I will increase famine against you, and I will break {the supply of food} for you.

In all of your dwellings, the cities will be desolate and the high places will be ruined, so that your altars will be desolate and will suffer punishment. Your idols will be broken and will come to an end, and your incense altars will be cut down, and your works will be destroyed,

and the slain one will fall in the midst of you, and [then] you will know that I [am] Yahweh.

And your fugitives will remember me among the nations [to] which they were taken captive, that I was shattered by {their adulterous heart} which departed from me, and by {their adulterous eyes} which [went] after their idols, and they will feel loathing {for themselves}, for the evil that they did, for all of their detestable things.

And they will know that I [am] Yahweh; not {in vain} I spoke to bring to them this evil." '

And you will know that I [am] Yahweh {when their slain ones are in the midst of their idols} around their altars at every high hill, on the tops of all the mountains and under every green tree and under every leafy oak--the place [at] which they gave pleasing scent for all of their idols.

And I will stretch out my hand against them, and I will make the land a desolation and a wasteland from the desert to Riblah in all of their dwellings, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh." '"

And my eye will not take pity on you, and I will not show compassion for your ways; on you I will bring your detestable things; they will be in the midst of you, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh.'

And my eye will not take pity, and I will not show compassion. According to your ways I will {deal with you}, and your detestable things will be in the midst of you, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh [who] strikes.

The king will mourn, and [the] prince will be dressed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh.'"

And he sent out [the] form of a hand, and he took me by a lock of hair of my head, and [the] Spirit lifted me between earth and heaven, and it brought me to Jerusalem in visions of God to the doorway of [the] inner gate {that faced north}, [at] which there [was] the seat of the image of jealousy, which was making jealous.

And look! There [was] the glory of the God of Israel like the vision that I saw in the valley.

And he said to me, "Son of man, "{Do you see} what they [are] doing--great detestable things that the house of Israel [is] committing here [so as] to drive [me] from my sanctuary, and yet {you will see again} greater detestable things."

And he said to me, "Come and see the detestable things, the evil that they are doing here.

And he said to me, "Still {you will see again} greater detestable things that they [are] doing."

And he brought me to the doorway of the gate of the house of Yahweh that [is] toward the north, and look! There [were] the women sitting weeping for Tammuz.

And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man? {Was it too small a thing} for the house of Judah {to do} the detestable things that they did here? For they filled up the land [with] violence, and {they provoked me to anger again}, and look! They [are] putting the branch to their nose.

And look! Six men coming from the way of {the upper gate} that faced {northward}, and each [with] his weapon for shattering in his hand; and one man [was] in the midst of them, dressed in linen, and the writing case of the scribe [was] at his side. And they came and stood beside the bronze altar.

And the glory of the God of Israel lifted itself up from upon the cherub that he was on [and went] to the threshold of the house, and he called to the man who [was] clothed in linen {with a scribal writing case at his side}.

And Yahweh said to him, "Go through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and you must place a mark on the foreheads of the men {who are groaning and lamenting} about all of the detestable things {that are being done} in the midst of her."

And look! The man clothed in linen [and] {with a writing case at his side} [was] bringing back a word, {saying}, "I have done all that you commanded me."

And I looked, and look! On the expanse that [was] above the head of the cherubim [something] like a stone of sapphire, [and] like [the] appearance of [the] shape of a throne it appeared above them.

Then the cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim toward the fire that [was] among the cherubim, and he lifted up and gave [it] into the hollow of the hand of [the man] clothed with linen, and he took [it], and he went out.

{When they went} to the four of their directions [that] they went, they did not change direction {when they went}, for the place [to] which the head turned, they went behind him; they did not change direction at their going.

And the cherubim rose; that is, the living creatures that I saw at the {Kebar River}.

This [was] the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel at the {Kebar River}, and I knew that they [were] cherubim.

And the likeness of their faces, they [were] the faces that I saw at the {Kebar River}; [thus was] their appearance, and they each went {straight ahead}.

By the sword you will fall at the border of Israel; I will judge you, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh.

And you will know that I [am] Yahweh, whose rules you did not follow, and whose regulations you did not do, but according to the regulations of the nations that [are] around you, you acted." '

And it happened [that] {as I was prophesying}, Pelatiahu the son of Benaiahu died! And I fell on my face, and I cried [with] a loud voice, and I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh, you [are] making complete destruction [of] the remnant of Israel!"

so that they may walk in my statutes, and they will keep my regulations, and they will do them, and they will be to me a people, and I myself will be to them as God.

And the glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and it stood [still] on the mountain that [is] to the east of the city.

And [the] Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to Chaldea, to the exiles, in the vision by the spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen {left me}.