the burning sands will become a pool, and the thirsty ground fountains of water. In the haunts of jackals there will be a verdant resting place with reeds and rushes."

""Didn't you hear how in the distant past I decided to do it, how I planned from days of old? Now I've made it happen that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps.

Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They've become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind.

""I know when you rise up and when you sit down, your comings and goings and how you've become enraged at me.

"Then some of your own sons, who will come from your loins, whom you will father, will be taken away to become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be lowered; the rough ground will become level, and the mountain ridges made a plain.

But this is a people who have been robbed and plundered, all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons. They have become prey, with no one to rescue them; they have been made loot, with no one to say, "Send them back!'

This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I will send to Babylon, and bring them all down as fugitives. Now as for the Babylonians, their ringing cry will become lamentation.

The blacksmith prepares a tool and works in the coals, then fashions an idol with hammers, working by the strength of his arm. He even becomes hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.

"Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my nation! For instruction will go out from me, and my justice will become a light for the nations.

Their cobwebs cannot become clothing, they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are deeds of iniquity, and acts of violence fill their hands.

Truth is missing, and whoever turns away from evil becomes a prey." "Then the LORD looked, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

The least of them will become a thousand, and the smallest one a mighty nation. "I am the LORD; When the time is right, I will do this swiftly."

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy rag; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind, our iniquities sweep us away.

Your holy cities have become a desert; Zion has become like a desert, Jerusalem a desolation.

Our holy Temple and our splendor, where our ancestors praised you, have become a conflagration of fire, and all our dearest places have become ruins.

Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a fold for herds, for my people who have sought me.

"Is Israel a slave, or was he born a servant? Why then has he become plunder?

"When a man divorces his wife, she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, will the first husband return to her again? The land would be deeply polluted, would it not? Since you have committed fornication with many lovers, would you now return to me?" declares the LORD.

I looked, and the fruitful land had become a desert. All its towns were broken down because of the LORD, because of his burning anger.

Therefore, this is what the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies says: "Because you people have said this, my words in your mouth will become a fire and these people the wood. The fire will destroy them.

Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are filled with treachery. This is how they have become prominent and rich,

Has this house that is called by my name become a hideout for bandits in your eyes? Look, I'm watching," declares the LORD.

In the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem I'll bring an end to the sound of gladness and rejoicing, to the sounds of the bridegroom and bride, for the land will become a wasteland."

My inheritance has become like a lion in the forest to me. She roars at me; therefore, I hate her.

You deceived me, LORD, and I've been deceived. You overpowered me, and you prevailed. I've become a laughing stock all day long, and everyone mocks me.

But if you don't listen to these words, I swear," declares the LORD, "that this house will become a ruin."'"

Like a lion, he has left his den. Indeed, their land has become a waste because of the anger of the oppressor and because of the LORD's fierce anger."

Don't listen to them! Serve the king of Babylon and you'll live. Why should this city become a ruin?

In addition, all who devour you will be devoured, and all your oppressors all of them will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will become plunder, and all who spoil you will become spoil.

But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves that they had set free, and they forced them to become male and female slaves.

But then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves whom you had set free according to their desire, and you forced them to become male and female slaves."'

My wrath and my anger were poured out, and they burned in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem so that they have become a ruin and a desolate place, as is the case today.'

And why have you provoked me to anger by the works of your hands, by offering sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to settle so that you cut yourselves off and become an object of ridicule and scorn among all the nations of the earth?

I'll take the remnant of Judah that determined to go to the land of Egypt to settle there, and all of them will come to an end in the land of Egypt. They'll fall by the sword, and they'll come to an end by famine. They'll become a curse, an object of horror, ridicule, and scorn.

The LORD could no longer bear it because of your evil deeds and the repulsive things that you did. So your land has become a ruin and an object of horror and ridicule without an inhabitant, as is the case today.

Prepare your baggage for exile, daughter living in Egypt, for Memphis will become a desolate place. It will become a ruin without inhabitant.

This is what the LORD says: "Look, waters are rising from the north, and they'll become an overflowing river. They'll overflow the land and all that fills it the city and those that live in it. People will cry out, and all those living in the land will wail.

"Put salt on Moab for she will surely fall. Her towns will become desolate places, without any inhabitants in them.

"From the cry of Heshbon, to Elealeh, to Jahaz they have lifted up their voice. From Zoar to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah, even the waters of Nimrim will become a desolate place.

Therefore, look, the time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I'll cause a battle cry to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a desolate mound, and its towns will be burned with fire. Israel will take possession of those who possessed him," says the LORD.

Indeed, I've sworn by myself," declares the LORD, "that Bozrah will become an object of horror and scorn, a waste, and an object of ridicule. All her towns will become perpetual ruins."

"Edom will become an object of horror. Everyone who passes by her will be horrified and will scoff because of all her wounds.

Damascus will become weak. She will turn to flee, but panic will seize her. Distress and anguish will take hold of her like that of a woman giving birth.

Their camels will become booty, their many herds will become spoil. I'll scatter to the winds those who shave the corners of their beards, and I'll bring disaster on them from every side," declares the LORD.

"Hazor will become a dwelling place for jackals, a perpetual wasteland. No one will live there; no human being will reside in it."

I'll terrify Elam before their enemies and before those who seek to kill them. I'll bring on them disaster and become fiercely angry at them," declares the LORD. "I'll send the sword after them, until I've made an end of them.

My people have become lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them toward the mountains. They go from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place.

The Chaldeans will become plunder, and all who plunder them will get more than enough," declares the LORD.

your mother will be greatly devastated, she who gave birth to you will be ashamed. She will become the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

How the hammer of all the earth is cut off and broken! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!

A sword against her horses, against her chariots, and against all the foreign troops in her midst. They'll become women. A sword against her treasures. They'll be plundered.

The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting. They stay in their strongholds; their strength is dried up; they have become like women. Her buildings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.

Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a refuge for jackals, a desolate place and an object of scorn.

"How Sheshak will be captured, and the prince of all the earth seized! How Babylon will become an object of horror among the nations!

Her cities will become an object of horror, a dry land and a desert, a land in which no one lives, and through which no human being passes.

Do this now, so your heart does not grow faint, and so you don't become frightened because of the rumors that are heard in the land a rumor comes one year and then after it another rumor comes the next year about violence in the land and one ruler against another ruler.

How lonely she lies, the city that thronged with people! Like a widow she has become, this great one among nations! The princess among provinces has become a vassal.

Bitterly she cries in the night, as tears stream down her cheeks. No one consoles her of all her friends. All her neighbors have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

Fled from cherished Zion are all that were her splendor. Her princes have become like deer that cannot find their feeding grounds. They flee with strength exhausted from their pursuers.

All her people groaned as they searched for food. They traded their valuables in order to eat, to keep themselves alive. Look, LORD, and see how I have become dishonored.

Zion spreads out her hands; no one is there to comfort her. The LORD has issued an order against Jacob, that all who are around him are to be his enemies; Jerusalem has become unclean among them.

People heard how I groan, with no one to comfort me. All my adversaries have heard about my troubles; they rejoice that you have caused them. Bring on the day you have promised, so my adversaries will become like me.

The Lord has become like an enemy he has devoured Israel. He has devoured all of her palaces, destroying her fortresses. He filled cherished Judah with mourning and lament.

I have become a laughingstock to all my people, the object of their taunts throughout the day.

My mind keeps reflecting on it, and I become depressed.

How tarnished the gold has become, the finest gold debased! Sacred stones have been scattered at every street corner.

Now their faces are blacker than coal; they are unrecognized in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones; it has become dry like a stick.

With their own hands, compassionate women boil their own children they become their food when my beloved people were destroyed.

Celebrate and rejoice, you women of Edom, who live in the land of Uz. But to you the cup also will pass you will become drunk and stripped naked.

As a result, Jerusalem will become an insult, an object of taunt, an example of chastisement, and a useless waste to all the nations that surround you when I carry out my sentence against you in my anger, my burning rage, and my burning rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken it.

Your altars will become desolate and your sun pillars will be shattered. I'll throw your slain down right in front of your idols.

"Do you see this, Son of Man?" he asked me. "Is it an insignificant thing for Judah's house to commit the detestable things that they're doing here? They've filled the land with violence and turned away from me, causing me to become angry again. Look how they're sniffing with their noses!

Israel, your prophets have become like foxes among ruins.

I'll do this in order to capture the hearts of Israel's house who have become alienated from me due to all of their idols."'"

Then Israel's house won't wander away from me again, nor will they defile themselves again with all their transgressions. They'll become my people and I'll be their God," declares the Lord GOD.

"If I were to make wild animals pass throughout the land, so that they kill its residents and it were to become desolate because no one will travel through it due to those wild animals,

then even though these three men were in it, as I live," says the Lord GOD, "they wouldn't be able to deliver even their sons or daughters. They would only save themselves, but the land would become desolate.

It wasn't just that you lived like they did and committed their detestable practices, but in just a little while your behavior led you to become more corrupt than they were!"

before your wickedness was revealed. Now you've become an object of derision to the inhabitants of Aram and its neighbors, including the Philistines all those around you who despise you.

It flourished and became a low, spreading vine. Its branches turned toward him, and its roots spread under him to become a vine that put out shoots and spread out its branches.

I'll transplant it on Israel's land, and it will grow branches, bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar. All sorts of birds will rest under it, and they'll settle down in the shade of its branches.

"Why do you cite this proverb when you talk about Israel's land: "The fathers eat sour grapes but it's their children's teeth that have become numb.'

She raised one cub in particular, teaching that fierce lion to become a hunter-prowler to eat human beings.

The nations heard about him. He had become caught in their trap. They brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

He prowled around among the lions, became a strong, young lion, and learned to become a hunter-prowler to eat human beings.

You'll remember all your practices and evil actions by which you've become defiled. You'll loathe yourselves because of all the evil things you've done.

"Son of Man, Israel has become like dross to me. All of them are like remnants of bronze, tin, iron, and lead in a furnace the dross left over from smelting silver.

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says, "Because all of you have become dross, watch out! I'm going to gather all of you at the center of Jerusalem,

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "You'll drink from your sister's cup, which is both large and deep. You'll become a laughing stock and an object of derision, since the cup is so full!

therefore you'd better look out! I'm going to turn you over to men from the East, who will dominate you. You will become their property. They will set up military encampments and permanent places in which to live among you, and then they'll eat your fruit and drink your milk.

I will turn Rabbah into a pasture for camels, and Ammon will become a resting place for flocks of sheep. That's how they'll learn that I am the LORD."'"

I'm going to turn these cities over to men from the East, who will dominate you. You will become their property. As a result, Ammon will be forgotten as a nation.

and it will become a place where nets will be spread out right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Because I have declared this to happen,' declares the Lord GOD, "Tyre will be treated as the spoils of war by the invading nations.

I'll turn you into bare rock, and your city will become a place to spread nets. You will never be built again, because I the LORD have decreed this,' declares the Lord GOD."

Traders circulate among the people, hissing at you. What a horror you've become! Now you will cease to exist forever and ever!"

By your great wisdom, by your skills in trading you have amassed wealth for yourself and your heart has become arrogant because of your wealth."

I'll see to it that Egypt becomes a devastated land in the midst of devastated lands. Her cities deep inside her territories will be laid waste and desolate for 40 years. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them throughout the land.'"

Then I'll turn the land into a desolate ruin and her arrogant strength will come to an abrupt end. The mountains of Israel will become so desolate that no one will be able to travel over them."

"Since they have no shepherd, they have been scattered around and have become prey for all sorts of wild animals. How scattered they are!