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.

Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner; {post a strong watch}, post watchmen, prepare the ambushes, for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed what he has spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself, "Surely I will fill you [with] troops like the creeping locusts, and they will sing over you a war cry."

The portion of Jacob [is] not like these, for he [is] the creator of {everything}, and the tribe of his inheritance. Yahweh of hosts [is] his name.

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.

They will not take from you a stone for a corner, and a stone for a foundation, for you will be {an everlasting desolation}," {declares} Yahweh.

And the land quakes and writhes, for the plans of Yahweh against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon as a horror, {without} inhabitant.

For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "The daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshing floor [at the] time it [is] trodden down, {just a little while} and the time of the harvest will come for her."

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh, "Look, I [am] going to contend your case, and I will avenge your vengeance, and I will cause her sea to dry up, and I will cause her fountain to dry up.

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.

Come out from her midst, my people, and save each one his life from {the burning anger of} Yahweh.

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.

Survivors of [the] sword, go! You must not linger! Remember Yahweh from far [away], and let Jerusalem come to your {mind}.

We are ashamed, for we have heard taunts, disgrace covers our faces, for strangers have come to the holy places of the house of Yahweh.

"{Therefore} look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will punish her images, and [the] fatally wounded will sigh through all her land.

Though Babylon goes up [to] the heavens, and though she fortifies the high place of her strength, from me destroyers will come to her," {declares} Yahweh.

For Yahweh [is] devastating Babylon, and he obliterates [her] loud noise from her. Their waves roar like mighty waters, the roar of their voices resounds.

For a destroyer [is] coming against her, against Babylon, and her warriors are captured. Their bows are broken; for Yahweh [is] a God of recompense, certainly he will repay.

"And I will make drunk her officials, and her wise men, her governors, and her officials, and her warriors, and they will sleep {an everlasting sleep}, and they will not wake up," {declares} the King, Yahweh of hosts [is] his name.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished, and her high gates will burn with fire, and [the] peoples will labor {for nothing}, and [the] nations {for fire}, and they will grow weary."

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

For because of the {anger} of Yahweh this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until his casting them from his {presence}. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

And he burned the {temple} of Yahweh, and the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he burned with fire.

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!

Her foes have become [her] {master}, her enemies are at ease; Yahweh has made her suffer because of the greatness of her transgressions. Her children have gone away, captive before the foe.

Her uncleanness [was] in her skirts; she did not remember her future, she has descended beyond understanding, there is no comforter for her. See, O Yahweh, my persecution! [My] enemy has been made great!

All her people groan, they are searching for bread. They give their treasures for food, to bring back life. See, O Yahweh, and look, [how] I am despised.

Is it nothing to you, {all who pass by}? Look and see if there is sorrow like my sorrow, which was dealt to me, which Yahweh inflicted on the {day of his wrath}.

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.

Yahweh is righteous; I have rebelled [against] {his word}. Please hear, all [the] nations, And see my pain; My young women and young men went into captivity.

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.

He has broken down {his dwelling} place like the garden; he has ruined his appointed feasts; Yahweh has made [them] forget in Zion {festival} and Sabbath, and he has despised in his anger king and priest.

The Lord has rejected his altar; he has rejected his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hands of the enemy the walls of its citadel fortresses. They have cried out in the house of Yahweh like a day of an appointed feast.

Yahweh has planned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He measured [with] a line; he has not restrained his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to mourn; together they have languished away.

Her gates have sunk into the earth; he has ruined and broken her bars, her kings and its princes [are] among the nations; there is no more law. Also, her prophets have not found a revelation from Yahweh.

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.

See, Yahweh, and take note! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat their young children of tender care? Should priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

You have summoned my horror from all around, as if for a feast day; no one on the day of Yahweh's anger [is] a fugitive and a survivor; whoever I have cared for and reared, my enemy has destroyed.

And I have said, "My glory is ruined, my expectation from Yahweh."

The loyal love of Yahweh does not cease; his compassions do not come to an end.

"Yahweh is my portion," says my soul, "Thus I will hope on him."

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

[It is] good to wait in silence for the salvation of Yahweh.

Let us test and examine our ways; let us return to Yahweh.

until Yahweh looks down and sees from heaven.

I have called your name, O Yahweh, from the depths of the pit.

You have seen my injustice, O Yahweh; judge my case.

You have heard their disgrace, O Yahweh, all their plans against me.

Return to them what is deserved, O Yahweh, according to the work of their hands.

Pursue them {in anger} and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.

Yahweh has completed his anger, he has poured out {his fierce anger}; he has kindled a fire in Zion, it consumed her foundations.

The presence of Yahweh has scattered them, he will no longer watch over them; {they did not honor the priests}, they did not show mercy [to] elders.

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed one of Yahweh, was captured in their pits; of whom we said, "In his shadow we will live among the nations."

Remember, O Yahweh, what has become of us; take note, and see our disgrace!

You, O Yahweh, will sit forever [on] your throne for generation to generation.

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

the word of Yahweh {came} clearly to Ezekiel the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of [the] Chaldeans at the {Kebar River}, and the hand of Yahweh was on him there.

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 the children [are] {impudent} and {stubborn}, [and so] I am sending you to them, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh!'

And come, go to the exiles, to the children of your people, and you must speak to them, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh!' whether they listen or whether they fail [to listen]."

And the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the sound of a great earthquake when the glory of Yahweh rose from its place.

And [the] Spirit lifted me and took me, and I went [in] bitterness in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Yahweh [was] strong on me.

And then it happened at [the] end of seven days, {the word of Yahweh came} to me, saying,

And the hand of Yahweh was on me there, and he said to me, "Rise up, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you."

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 when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "The [one] hearing him, let him hear, and the [one] failing [to hear], let him fail," ' for they {are a rebellious house}.

And Yahweh said, "Thus shall the {Israelites} eat their unclean food among the nations {where I will scatter them}."

And I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look! I have not been defiling myself, and a dead body and mangled carcass I have not eaten from my childhood until now, and {unclean meat} has not come into my mouth!"

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This [is] Jerusalem in the midst of the nations [where] I have put her, and countries [are] around her.

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.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Look! I, {even I}, am against you, and I will execute judgment in the midst of you before the eyes of the nations,

Therefore {as surely as I live}, {declares} the Lord Yahweh, {Surely} because you have defiled my sanctuary with all of your vile idols and with all of your detestable things, {now indeed I} will reduce, and my eye will not take pity, and surely I will show no compassion.

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 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!

And I will send against you famine and fierce animals, and they will make you childless; and plague and blood will pass through you, and I will bring [the] sword upon you. I, Yahweh, I have spoken!"

And the word of Yahweh {came} to me, saying,

and you must say, 'Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys: "Look, I [am] bringing upon you [the] sword, and I will destroy your high places,

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

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

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Clap your hand and stamp with your foot, and say, "Alas, for all of the detestable things of the evil of the house of Israel, {because of which} they will fall with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague.

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 the word of Yahweh {came} to me, saying,

"And you, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel: '[The] end comes, the end on the four corners of the land.

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.'

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! Disaster after disaster [is] coming!

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.

Their silver they will discard on the streets, and filth will be their gold; their silver and their gold will not be able to rescue them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. They will not satisfy their {hunger} and their stomachs they will not fill, for their guilt will be their stumbling block.

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 then} in the sixth year, in the sixth [month], on the fifth [day] of the month, I [was] sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah [were] sitting {before me}. And the hand of the Lord Yahweh fell on me there,

And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel [are] doing in the dark, each in the inner rooms of his idol, for [they are] saying, 'Yahweh [is] not seeing us; Yahweh has abandoned the land.'"

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 brought me to the inner courtyard of the house of Yahweh, and look, [at] the doorway of the temple of Yahweh, between the portico and the altar, [there were] about twenty-five men [with] their backs to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east, and they [were] bowing down toward the east before the sun.

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 then} {as they were striking}, and I [was] left behind, I fell on my face, and I cried out, and I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! "[Will] you [be] destroying all of the remnant of Israel {while you pour out your rage} on Jerusalem?"

And he said to me, "The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah [is] {exceedingly} great, and the land is filled with bloodguilt, and the city is full of injustice. For they say Yahweh abandoned the land, and {Yahweh does not see}.

And the glory of Yahweh rose up from on the cherub toward the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the glory of Yahweh.