I have become a brother to jackals
and a companion of ostriches.

But You have crushed us in a haunt of jackals
and have covered us with deepest darkness.

They will be given over to the power of the sword;
they will become the jackals’ prey.

Hyenas will howl in the fortresses,
and jackals, in the luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time is almost up;
her days are almost over.

Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns;
her fortified cities, with thistles and briers.
She will become a dwelling for jackals,
an abode for ostriches.

the parched ground will become a pool of water,
and the thirsty land springs of water.
In the haunt of jackals, in their lairs,
there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus.

The animals of the field will honor Me,
jackals and ostriches,
because I provide water in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert,
to give drink to My chosen people.

I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble,
a jackals’ den.
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
an uninhabited place.

Listen! A noise—it is coming—
a great commotion from the land to the north.
The cities of Judah will be made desolate,
a jackals’ den.

Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights
panting for air like jackals.
Their eyes fail
because there are no green plants.

Hazor will become a jackals’ den,
a desolation forever.
No one will live there;
no human being will even stay in it as a temporary resident.

Therefore, desert creatures will live with hyenas,
and ostriches will also live in her.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in through all generations.

Babylon will become a heap of rubble,
a jackals’ den,
a desolation and an object of scorn,
without inhabitant.

ג GimelEven jackals offer their breasts
to nurse their young,
but my dear people have become cruel
like ostriches in the wilderness.

because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate
and has jackals prowling in it.

Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among ruins.

Because of this I will lament and wail;
I will walk barefoot and naked.
I will howl like the jackals
and mourn like ostriches.

but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”