Lamentations 2 Cross References - LEB

¹ How, _⌊in his anger_⌋,* the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in a cloud! He has thrown down from heavens to earth the splendor of Israel, and he has not remembered his footstool in the day of _⌊his anger_⌋.* ² The Lord has devoured; he has not shown mercy to all the dwellings of Jacob; he has broken down in his wrath the fortifications of the daughter of Judah; he has leveled to the ground, he has dishonored the kingdom and its commanders.* ³ He has cut down _⌊in fierce anger_⌋* all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn his right hand from the faces of the enemy, and he has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, it has consumed all around. ⁴ He has bent his bow like an enemy; he has set his right hand like a foe, and he has slain all the treasures of the eye;* in the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his anger like fire. ⁵ The Lord has become like an enemy; he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all its citadel fortresses;* he has ruined all its fortifications and multiplied lamentation and mourning in the daughter of Judah. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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. ⁸ 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. ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ They sit on the ground, the elders of the daughter of Zion are silent. They cast dust on their head, they have put on sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem have bowed their head down to the ground. ¹¹ My eyes have _⌊spent all their tears_⌋;* _⌊my stomach_⌋* is in torment, _⌊my heart_⌋* is poured out on the earth because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because child and babe faint in the public squares of a city. ¹² To their mothers they say, "Where is the bread and wine?" as they faint like the wounded in the public squares of a city, as their life is being poured out onto the bosom of their mothers. ¹³ 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? ¹⁴ Your prophets had a vision for you, false and worthless; they have not exposed your sin, to restore your fortune; they have seen oracles for you, false and misleading. ¹⁵ They clap hands over you, all who pass along the way; they hiss and they shake their head, at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the city of which it is said, "A perfection of beauty, a joy for all the earth?" ¹⁶ They have opened their mouths against you, all your enemies. They hiss and gnash a tooth, and they say, "We have destroyed her! Surely this is the day we have hoped for; we have found it, we have seen it!" ¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸ Their heart cried to the Lord, "O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a river; day and night, do not give yourself relief, do not give your eyes rest. ¹⁹ "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches; pour out your heart like water, before the face of the Lord. Lift to him your hands, for the life of your children, who faint in starvation, at the head of all streets." ²⁰ 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? ²¹ They lie in the soil of the streets, young and old; my young women* and young men, they have fallen by the sword; you have slain on the day of _⌊your anger_⌋,* you have slaughtered and not shown mercy. ²² 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.

²¹ She called the boy Ichabod,* saying, "The glory has departed from Israel," referring to the capture of the ark of God and concerning her father-in-law and husband.

¹⁹ "The glory of Israel is on your high places; how the mighty have fallen!

² And King David rose to his feet and said, "Listen to me, my brothers and my people. _⌊I myself wanted_⌋* to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the footstool of our God, and I prepared to build.

⁵ Exalt Yahweh our God, and worship at his footstool. He is holy.

⁷ Let us go to his dwelling places;* Let us worship at his footstool.

¹² How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of dawn! You are cut down to the ground, conqueror of nations! ¹³ And you yourself said in your heart,
'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise up my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of assembly on the summit of Zaphon;* ¹⁴ I will ascend to the high places of the clouds,* I will make myself like the Most High.' ¹⁵ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.

¹¹ _⌊Our holy and beautiful temple_⌋,* where our ancestors* praised you has _⌊been burned_⌋* by fire, and all our precious objects have become ruins.*

¹ 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.

⁴³ You have covered yourself _⌊in anger_⌋* and pursued us, you have slain and not shown mercy. ⁴⁴ You have covered yourself in a cloud _⌊so that prayer cannot pass through_⌋.*

¹ How the gold has grown dim, the pure gold has changed. The stones of holiness are scattered at the head of every street.

²⁰ " 'And the beauty of its* ornament _⌊he made into a prideful thing_⌋* and made with it their detestable things and their vile idols; therefore I will make it into an impure thing for them. ²¹ And I will give it into the hand of strangers as plunder and to the wicked people of the earth as spoil, and they will defile it. ²² And I will turn my face from them, and they will defile my treasured place, and violent ones will enter and defile it.

²¹ "Say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I will be profaning my sanctuary, the pride of your strength and the delight of your eyes and the object of your own* affection; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind will fall by the sword,

¹⁴ You were an anointed guardian cherub, and I placed you on _⌊God's holy mountain_⌋;* you walked in the midst of stones of fire. ¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways from the day _⌊when you were created_⌋,* until wickedness was found in you. ¹⁶ In the abundance of your trading, they filled the midst of you with violence, and you sinned; and I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I expelled you, the guardian* cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

¹⁸ And at Tahpanhes the day will become dark when I break the yoke of Egypt, and in it the majesty of its strength will come to an end. A cloud will cover it, and its daughters will go into captivity.

⁷ And I will cover you at* extinguishing your heavens, and I will make dark their stars, and I will cover the sun with the cloud, and the moon will not give its light. ⁸ All* sources of light in the heavens, I will make them dark over you, and I will put* darkness on your land,'"
_⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

² A day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness, like the dawn spreads on the mountains, a great and strong army! There has been nothing like it from old, and after it nothing will be again _⌊for generations to come_⌋.*

²³ And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until today.

¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No! You will be brought down to Hades!

¹⁸ So he said to them, "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven.

⁷ And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels _⌊fought against_⌋* the dragon, and the dragon and his angels _⌊fought back_⌋*. ⁸ And they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them any longer in heaven. ⁹ And the great dragon was thrown down, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

³ So* Yahweh _⌊asked_⌋* Satan,* "Have you _⌊considered_⌋* my servant Job? Indeed,* there is no one like him on the earth—a blameless man and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil. And still he persists in his blamelessness _⌊even though_⌋* you incited me against him to destroy him for nothing."

⁹ You will make them like your fiery furnace at the time of your appearance. Yahweh will swallow them in his wrath and fire will consume them.

³⁹ You have repudiated the covenant with your servant; you have defiled* his crown in* the dirt. ⁴⁰ You have broken down all his walls; you have made his fortifications a ruin.

⁹ Yahweh of hosts has planned it: to defile the pride of all glory, to humble all the honored ones of the earth.

¹² And he will throw down the fortification of the high point of your walls; he will bring it low; he will _⌊send it_⌋* to the ground, to the dust.

⁵ For he has thrown down the inhabitants of the height, he lays low the lofty city. He lays it low to the ground; he throws her to the dust.

¹¹ _⌊When its branches are dry_⌋,* they are broken; women are coming and setting light to it.
For it is not a people of understanding;
therefore his maker will not have compassion on him, and his creator will not show him favor.

²⁸ And I profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and I gave Jacob to destruction, and Israel to reviling.

⁶ I was angry with my people; I profaned my inheritance, and I gave them into your hand. You did not _⌊give_⌋* them mercy; on the aged you made your yoke very heavy.

¹⁰ Go up through her vineyards and destroy, but you must not make complete destruction. Remove her branches, for they are not to Yahweh.

¹⁴ And I will smash them, each one against his brother, and the fathers and the sons together," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "I will not have compassion, and I will not take pity, and I will not show compassion from destroying them." '"

⁷ And _⌊afterward_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives, and he will strike them with the _⌊edge_⌋* of the sword. He will not take pity on them, and he will not have compassion, nor will he show compassion." '

⁵ The Lord has become like an enemy; he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all its citadel fortresses;* he has ruined all its fortifications and multiplied lamentation and mourning in the daughter of Judah.

¹⁷ 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.

²¹ They lie in the soil of the streets, young and old; my young women* and young men, they have fallen by the sword; you have slain on the day of _⌊your anger_⌋,* you have slaughtered and not shown mercy.

⁴³ You have covered yourself _⌊in anger_⌋* and pursued us, you have slain and not shown mercy.

¹¹ 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.

⁴ 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.'

⁹ 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.*

¹⁸ And so I will act in rage, and my eye will not take pity, and I will not have compassion, and they will cry in my ear with a loud voice, and I will not hear them."

¹⁰ And I, my eye will not take pity, and I will not have compassion; their way I will bring on their head."

¹¹ And I will cut off the cities of your land, and I will demolish all your fortifications. ¹² And I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will not have soothsayers.

⁵ The ones buying them kill them and go unpunished, and the ones selling them say, 'Blessed be Yahweh, for I have become rich.' Their own shepherds have no compassion for them. ⁶ For I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "Look, I am going to cause humankind to fall, each into the hand of his neighbor, and into the hand of his king; and they will devastate the land, and I will not deliver anyone from their hand."

⁴ If Edom says, "We are shattered, but we will return and rebuild the ruins," Yahweh of hosts says this: "They may build, but I will tear down; and they will be called a territory of wickedness, and the people with whom Yahweh is angry forever."

³³ Should you not also have shown mercy to your fellow slave as I also showed mercy to you?'

⁴ for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but powerful to God for the tearing down of fortresses, tearing down arguments

²² For a fire was kindled* by my anger, and it burned _⌊up to the depths of Sheol_⌋,* and it devoured the earth and its produce, and it set afire the foundation of the mountains.

¹⁵ "I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and I have inserted _⌊my pride_⌋* in the dust.

¹¹ Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your bosom;* destroy them!

⁵ Do not lift up high your* horn. Do not speak with _⌊arrogant pride_⌋.'"*

¹⁰ "And all the horns of the wicked I will cut off. The horns of the righteous will be lifted up."

⁵ How long, O Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?

²⁴ And so my faithfulness and my loyal love will be with him, and in my name his horn will rise up.

⁴⁶ How long, O Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire forever?

¹⁷ There I will cause a horn to grow for David; I will set a lamp for my anointed one.

³¹ And the strong man shall become like tinder, and his work like a spark. And both of them shall burn together, and there is not one to quench them."

²⁵ So* he poured the wrath of his anger upon him and the strength of war. And it set him afire all around, but* he did not understand;* and it burned him, but* he did not take it to heart.

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and remove the foreskins of your hearts,* men* of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath goes forth like the fire and burns, and there is no one who extinguishes it,* because of the evil of your deeds."

²⁰ _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Look, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on the humankind, and on the animal, and on the tree of the field, and on the fruit of the ground, and it will not be extinguished."

⁴ 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: "Look, I am about to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands,* with which you are fighting against them, the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are laying siege to you from outside the wall, and I will gather them into the center of this city. ⁵ And I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand, and with strong arm, and in _⌊anger_⌋,* and in fury, and in great wrath.

¹⁴ And I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "And I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it will devour all its surroundings." '"

²⁵ The horn of Moab is cut off and his arm is broken," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

¹ * "For look! The day is about to come, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and every _⌊evildoer_⌋* will be stubble. The coming day will consume* them," says Yahweh of hosts. "It will not leave behind for them root or branch.

⁶⁹ and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,

¹⁷ His winnowing shovel is in his hand, to clean out his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his storehouse, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

²¹ "Go! Seek Yahweh on my behalf and on behalf of those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the scroll that was found, for the anger of Yahweh that was poured out on us is great, because our ancestors* have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do all that is written in this scroll."

²⁵ because they have abandoned me and burned incense to other gods so as to provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. And my wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched.'

⁴ for the arrows of Shaddai are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

¹² "I was at ease, then* he broke me in two, and he seized me by my neck; then* he shattered me and set me up as a target for him. ¹³ His archers surround me; he slashes open my kidneys, and he does not have compassion; he pours out my gall on the ground. ¹⁴ He breached me _⌊breach upon breach_⌋;* he rushes at me like a warrior.

¹⁷ Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Stand up, Jerusalem, who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drunk the goblet, the cup of staggering; you have drained it out. ¹⁸ There is no one who guides her among* all the children she has borne, and there is no one who grasps her by the hand among* all the children she raised. ¹⁹ Two things here have happened to you—who will _⌊show sympathy_⌋* for you?— devastation and destruction, famine and sword—who will comfort you? ²⁰ Your children have fainted; they lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in* a snare, those who are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.

⁶ And I trampled peoples in my anger, and I made them drunk in my wrath, and I brought their juice down to the earth."

¹⁰ But* they _⌊were the ones who_⌋* rebelled, and they grieved _⌊his Holy Spirit_⌋,* so* he _⌊became an enemy to them_⌋;* he himself fought against them.

⁵ And I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand, and with strong arm, and in _⌊anger_⌋,* and in fury, and in great wrath.

¹² O house of David, thus says Yahweh,
"Execute judgment in the morning, justice, and deliver the one who has been seized from the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath goes forth like the fire and it burns, and there is no one who quenches it* because of the evil of your deeds.

¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not care for you. I have struck you with the blow of an enemy, the punishment of the cruel, because of the greatness of your guilt, your sins are numerous.

⁷ Perhaps their plea will fall _⌊before_⌋* Yahweh and each one will turn away from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that Yahweh pronounced against this people."

³ Surely he has turned his hand against me, all day long.

¹² He has bent his bow and set me as the target for the arrow. ¹³ He shot _⌊the arrows of his quiver_⌋* into my kidneys.

¹³ 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_⌋.*

¹² The one who is far away will die by the plague, and the one who is near will fall by the sword, and the one who is being left behind and being spared will die by the famine, and I will complete my rage on* them.

²² Thus you will be melted like the melting of silver in the midst of a furnace, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have poured out my rage on you.'"

²⁵ "And you, son of man,* will it not be that on the day _⌊when I take from them_⌋* their stronghold, the joy of their glory, the delight of their eyes, and the longing of their inner self,* their sons and daughters—

¹⁸ And I poured out my rage on them for the blood that they poured on the land and for their idols with which they defiled it.

² Yahweh is a jealous God and avenging; Yahweh is avenging and _⌊full of wrath_⌋.* Yahweh takes vengeance against his enemies; he rages against his adversaries.

⁶ His indignation—who can stand before it? Who can endure _⌊his fierce anger_⌋?* His wrath is poured out like fire; rocks are shattered before* him.

⁹ He burned the temple of Yahweh, the palace of the king, and all of the houses of Jerusalem; every large house he burned with fire.

¹⁶ But they were mocking the messengers of God and despising his words and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of Yahweh rose against his people until there was no remedy. ¹⁷ Therefore he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He showed no mercy on a young man, a virgin, the elderly, or decrepit. He delivered all into his hand.

¹⁷ Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
"Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come, and for the skillful women, so that they come. ¹⁸ And let them hasten, and let them lift up wailing over us, so that our eyes may melt with tears, and our eyelids may flow with water. ¹⁹ For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion, 'How we are devastated! We are very ashamed because we have left the land, because they have overthrown our dwelling places.' ²⁰ For hear, O women, the word of Yahweh, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters a lamentation, and each woman her neighbor a lament.

¹ Then Yahweh said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood _⌊before me_⌋,* my heart would not be to this people. Send them away from my _⌊sight_⌋,* and let them go out.

¹³ 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.

² The Lord has devoured; he has not shown mercy to all the dwellings of Jacob; he has broken down in his wrath the fortifications of the daughter of Judah; he has leveled to the ground, he has dishonored the kingdom and its commanders.*

⁴ He has bent his bow like an enemy; he has set his right hand like a foe, and he has slain all the treasures of the eye;* in the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his anger like fire.

¹⁰ And he rolled it out* _⌊before me_⌋,* and it was written on the front and back, and there were written on it laments and mourning and wailing.*

¹² Why have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass on the road pluck fruit from it?

⁴⁰ You have broken down all his walls; you have made his fortifications a ruin.

⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a shelter in a cucumber field, like a city that is besieged.*

¹³ You must not _⌊continue_⌋* to bring offerings* of futility, incense—it is an abomination to me; new moon and Sabbath, the calling of a convocation— I cannot endure iniquity with solemn assembly.

⁵ And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation. I will break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling.

¹⁸ _⌊Your holy people_⌋* took possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.

¹¹ Then he made blind the eyes of Zedekiah, and they tied him up with bronze fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon. And he put him in _⌊prison_⌋* until the day of his death. ¹² Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard,* who stood _⌊before_⌋* the king of Babylon, entered into Jerusalem. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard* broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. ¹⁵ And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard* deported some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who deserted to the king of Babylon, along with the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard* left some of the poor of the land to serve as vinedressers and farmers. ¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸ And they took with them the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the sprinkling bowls, and the pans, and all the vessels of bronze which were used in temple service. ¹⁹ And the captain of the guard* took the bowls, and the firepans, and the sprinkling bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the pans, and the libation bowls, _⌊those made of solid gold_⌋* and _⌊those made of solid silver_⌋.* ²⁰ 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! ²¹ Now the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits,* and a thread of twelve cubits* surrounded it, and its thickness was four fingers, hollowed out. ²² And a capital upon it was bronze and the height of the one capital was five cubits, and latticework and pomegranates were on the capital on all sides, all of bronze. And like these was the second pillar with pomegranates. ²³ And there were ninety-six pomegranates _⌊on the sides_⌋;* all the pomegranates on the latticework on all sides were a hundred. ²⁴ Then the captain of the guard* took Seraiah _⌊the chief priest_⌋,* and Zephaniah _⌊the second priest_⌋,* and three keepers of the threshold. ²⁵ And from the city he took one high official who was chief officer over _⌊the soldiers_⌋,* and seven men of _⌊the king's advisors_⌋* who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who levied for military service the people of the land, and sixty men* of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. ²⁶ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard* took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷ And the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah left from its land.

⁴ The roads of Zion are mourning because no one comes to the festival. All her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young women are worried, and she herself suffers bitterly.

¹⁶ 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.

²⁰ 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."

¹² They hang princes by their hand; they do not show respect before elders.

¹² And the prince who is in the midst of them, on his shoulder he will carry the baggage in the dusk, and* he will go out; _⌊the wall will be dug through_⌋* to bring him through it; and he will cover his face so that he will* not see the land with his* eye. ¹³ And I will spread out my net on him, and he will be captured in my hunting snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die.

¹⁸ And he despised the oath to break covenant. And, look, he gave his hand in pledge, and yet he did all of these things. He will not escape.'

¹⁸ I will gather those of you grieving on account of the feast; they were raising against her a reproach.

⁹ "And in turn I have made you despised and humbled before all the people, inasmuch as you are not keeping* my way, but are _⌊favoring your own instruction_⌋."*

³¹ And I will lay your cities in ruins, and I will lay waste your sanctuaries; and I shall not smell your sacrifices'* appeasing fragrance.

⁴⁴ And _⌊in spite of_⌋* this, _⌊when they are_⌋* in the land of their enemies I will not reject them, and I will not abhor them to destroy them, to break my covenant with them, because I am Yahweh their God.

¹⁹ And they burned the house of God. And they shattered the walls of Jerusalem and burned its citadels with fire and destroyed all the vessels of its treasuries.

⁴ May he provide justice for the poor of the people, save the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor. ⁵ May he live long* _⌊while the sun endures_⌋* _⌊as long as the moon_⌋* _⌊for all generations_⌋.* ⁶ May he descend like rain on mown grass, like showers watering the earth. ⁷ May what is right blossom in his days and an abundance of peace, until the moon is no more. ⁸ And may he rule from sea up to sea, and from the River* to the edges of the land. ⁹ Let the desert dwellers bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust. ¹⁰ Let the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute. Let the kings of Sheba and Seba present gifts, ¹¹ and let all kings bow down to him. Let all nations serve him. ¹² Indeed he will deliver the needy who is crying for help, and the afflicted who has no helper. ¹³ He will take pity on the helpless and needy, and the lives of the needy he will save. ¹⁴ From oppression and from violence he will redeem their lives, and their blood will be precious in his eyes. ¹⁵ So may he live, and may gold from Sheba be given to him, and may prayers be offered for him continually. May blessings be invoked for him _⌊all day long_⌋.* ¹⁶ May there be an abundance of grain in the land even on the top of the mountains. May his crop* sway like the trees of Lebanon, and may those from the city blossom like the grass of the earth. ¹⁷ May his name endure forever. May his name increase _⌊as long as the sun shines_⌋,* and let them be blessed in him. Let all nations call him blessed. ¹⁸ Blessed be Yahweh God, the God of Israel, who alone does wonderful things. ¹⁹ And blessed be his glorious name forever, and may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. ²⁰ The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are completed.

³ Lift your steps to the perpetual ruins, to all that the enemy has ruined in the sanctuary. ⁴ Your enemies have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they have set up their signs for signs. ⁵ They are* known to be like those who _⌊wield_⌋* axes in a thicket of trees. ⁶ And now* its* carved works altogether they have smashed with axe and hammer. ⁷ They have set fire to your sanctuary. They have defiled to the ground, the dwelling place for your name. ⁸ They have said in their heart, "We will completely* oppress them." They burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁵⁹ God heard and he was very angry and rejected Israel utterly. ⁶⁰ So he abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, the tent he had placed among humankind. ⁶¹ And he gave his strength into captivity and his splendor into the hand of the enemy.

¹⁰ _⌊Your holy cities_⌋* have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. ¹¹ _⌊Our holy and beautiful temple_⌋,* where our ancestors* praised you has _⌊been burned_⌋* by fire, and all our precious objects have become ruins.*

¹² "For go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell in the beginning, and see what I did to it _⌊because of_⌋* the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³ And now, because of your doing all these things," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and _⌊I have spoken to you over and over again_⌋,* and you have not listened, and I called you, and you have not answered, ¹⁴ therefore I will do to the house that is called _⌊by my name_⌋,* in which you are trusting, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors* _⌊what_⌋* I did to Shiloh.

⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse for all the nations of the earth.'" '"

¹⁸ "Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, _⌊saying_⌋:*
'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Zion will be plowed, and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the _⌊temple_⌋* as high places of wood." '

²⁹ And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and they will burn it, and the houses where they have made smoke offerings on their roofs to Baal, and where they have devoted libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger.

³ 'Call to me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great things and inaccessible things that you have not known.' ⁴ For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, that were torn down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword: ⁵ 'They are coming to fight against the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the corpses of the people whom I will strike in my anger and in my wrath, for whom I have hidden my face from this city because of all their wickedness.

⁸ And the Chaldeans burned the palace* of the king and the houses* of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

¹ How, _⌊in his anger_⌋,* the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in a cloud! He has thrown down from heavens to earth the splendor of Israel, and he has not remembered his footstool in the day of _⌊his anger_⌋.*

²⁴ And I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will take possession of their houses, and I will put to an end the pride of the mighty ones, and their sanctuaries will be defiled.

⁵ So I will send a fire against Judah and it will devour the citadel fortresses of Jerusalem.

¹² Therefore on account of you Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be a heap of rubble, and _⌊the temple mount_⌋* as a high place in a forest.

² But he answered and* said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone will be left here on another stone that will not be thrown down!"

¹³ And they put forward false witnesses who said, "This man does not stop speaking words against the holy place* and the law! ¹⁴ For we have heard him saying that this Nazarene Jesus will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed down to us."

² When he defeated Moab, he measured them with the cord, making them lie on the ground. He measured two cords to kill and _⌊the third cord_⌋* to let live.* So Moab became servants of David, bringing tribute.

¹³ I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes the dish; he wipes it and turns it on its face.

²¹ withdraw your* hand from me, and let not your* dread terrify me.

²⁶ And her* gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall be banished; she shall sit upon the ground.

¹⁷ And I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,* and waters will flood over the hiding place.

¹¹ But* the large bird and the hedgehog shall take possession of it, and the owl and the raven shall live in it. And he shall stretch the measuring line of confusion out over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.

² "Judah mourns, and her gates languish, they are in mourning on the ground, and the cry of lament of Jerusalem goes up.

²² But I withheld my hand, and I acted for the sake of my name not to be profaned before the eyes of the nations before whom I had brought them out before their eyes.

⁷ This is what he showed me: Behold, my Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plummet, and a plummet was in his hand. ⁸ And Yahweh said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "A plummet." And my Lord said, "Look, I am going to set a plummet in the midst of my people, Israel. I will not pass them by again.

³⁶ Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you set up over you to a nation that you or your ancestors* have not known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone.

¹² Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his court officials. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. ¹³ Then he took from there all of the treasures of the temple of Yahweh and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all of the vessels of gold which Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had foretold. ¹⁴ He deported all of Jerusalem: all of the commanders, ten thousand of the skilled warriors, and the artisans; no one was left over except the poorest of the people of the land. ¹⁵ He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; the mother of the king, the wives of the king, his court officials, and the citizenry of the land he caused to go into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ¹⁶ of all of the skilled men, seven thousand, and of the skilled craftsmen and the artisans, one thousand. All of the mighty warriors _⌊fit for war_⌋* the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

⁷ They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; then they blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

³ Now Israel has been without the true God many days, and without a teaching priest, and without law,

³ They replied to me, "The survivors in the province who have survived the captivity are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned in the fire."

⁹ We do not see our signs, and there is no longer a prophet. No one with us knows how long.

¹⁴ And Yahweh said to me, "The prophets are prophesying lies* in my name. I have not sent them, and I have not commanded them, and I have not spoken to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, and a divination, worthless, and the deceitfulness of their _⌊minds_⌋."*

² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was taken by assault.

³⁰ The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight, they remain in the strongholds, their power has dried up, they have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire, her bars are broken.

⁸ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. ⁹ Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and _⌊he passed sentence on him_⌋.*

¹⁴ And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard* broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

³ Judah has gone into exile with misery and under hard servitude; she lives among the nations, she has not found a resting place; all her pursuers have overtaken her amidst her distress.

¹⁵ "Go away! Defiled!" they shout to them. "Go away! Go away! Do not touch!" so they left, they left; it was said among the nations, "_⌊They will no longer dwell with us_⌋."*

²⁶ Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor will be upon rumor. And they will seek a vision from a prophet, but instruction will perish from the priest and counsel from the elders.

¹³ And I will spread out my net on him, and he will be captured in my hunting snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die.

²⁰ And I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my hunting net, and I will bring him to Babylon, and I will enter into judgment with him there about his infidelity that he displayed against me.

⁴ The children of Israel will remain for many days without a king and prince, without sacrifice and stone pillar, ephod and teraphim.

¹¹ Look, the days are coming," _⌊declares_⌋* my Lord Yahweh, "when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread and not a thirst for water, but _⌊of hearing_⌋* the words of Yahweh! ¹² And they will wander from sea to sea and from the north and to the east. They will roam about to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it!

⁶ Therefore it will be as night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. And the sun will set on the prophets, and the day will grow dark over them. ⁷ Then the seers will be disgraced, and those practicing divination will be put to shame. All of them will cover their lips, for there is no reply from God.

⁶ And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.*

¹⁹ Tamar put ashes on her head, and she tore the long-sleeved robe which was on her. She put her hand on her head, and _⌊she went away, crying out as she went_⌋.*

¹² Thus* they lifted up their eyes* from afar, but* they did not recognize him, so* they raised their voice, and they wept, and each man tore his outer garment* and threw dust on their heads _⌊toward the sky_⌋.* ¹³ Then* they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, but* no one spoke* a word to him because they saw that _⌊his_⌋* suffering was very great.

³ They gird themselves with sackcloth in its streets; on its roofs and public squares everyone wails, going down in weeping.

²² Then* Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the _⌊palace_⌋,* Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder, came to Hezekiah with torn garments and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

¹ Come down and sit on the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon! Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of Chaldea! For _⌊they shall no longer call_⌋* you tender and delicate.

⁵ Sit silently and go into the darkness, daughter of Chaldea, for _⌊they shall no longer call_⌋* you mistress of kingdoms.

¹⁴ Why are we sitting? Gather, and let us go into the fortified cities, and let us perish there, for Yahweh our God has caused us to perish, and has provided drink for us, water of poison, because we have sinned against Yahweh.

²⁸ Let him sit alone and be silent when he* has laid it on him.

⁵ The ones who eat delicacies, they are ruined in the streets; the ones nurtured in purple lie on piles of trash.

¹⁴ Elders are no longer at the gate, young men no longer play stringed instruments.

¹⁸ And they will wear sackcloth, and horror will cover them, and on all of the faces will be shame, and baldness on all of their heads.

³¹ _⌊They will shave themselves bald for your sake_⌋,* and they will dress* themselves in sackcloth, and they will weep* over you with a bitterness of soul* and with bitter wailing.

⁸ Lament like a virgin girded in sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

¹³ Therefore, whoever has insight will keep silent in that time, for it is a time of evil.

³ "And the songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," _⌊declares_⌋* my Lord Yahweh. "The corpses are numerous; he throws them in every place. Be quiet!"

¹³ In that day the beautiful young women and the young men will faint because of thirst.

¹⁹ And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying,
"Woe, woe, the great city, in which all those who had ships on the sea became rich from her prosperity, because in one hour she has been laid waste!"

⁴ Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until there was not enough strength in them to weep.

¹³ His archers surround me; he slashes open my kidneys, and he does not have compassion; he pours out my gall on the ground.

⁷ My eye wastes away because of vexation; it grows old because of all my oppressors.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted _⌊within me_⌋.*

⁹ Be gracious to me, O Yahweh, because I have distress. My eye wastes away because of vexation, along with my soul and my _⌊body_⌋.*

³ I am weary with my calling out; my throat is parched. My eyes are exhausted in my waiting for my God.

⁴ Therefore I said,
"Look away from me, let me _⌊weep bitterly_⌋;* you must not insist on comforting me for the destruction of the daughter of my people."

¹⁴ Like a horse or a crane, so I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weak toward the height. Lord, I have oppression; lend me support!

¹⁹ My bowels, my bowels! I writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me, I cannot keep silent, for I hear in my inner self the sound of a horn, the alarm of war.

¹⁹ Look, the sound of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a distant land, 'Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her king not in her?' Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with idols of a foreign land?"

¹⁷ "And you shall say to them this word,
'Let my eyes melt with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for with a great wound the virgin daughter of my people is broken, with a very incurable wound.

⁷ So then, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Why are you doing great harm to _⌊yourselves_⌋,* to cut off for yourselves man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah, to not leave over for yourselves a remnant,

¹⁶ For these things, I am weeping, _⌊my eyes flow with tears_⌋;* because a comforter is far from me, one to restore my life. My sons are desolate because the enemy has prevailed.

²⁰ 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.

¹⁹ "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches; pour out your heart like water, before the face of the Lord. Lift to him your hands, for the life of your children, who faint in starvation, at the head of all streets." ²⁰ 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?

⁴⁸ Channels of water run down my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹ My eyes have poured down unceasingly without respite, ⁵⁰ until Yahweh looks down and sees from heaven. ⁵¹ My eyes inflict my soul because of all the daughters of my city.

³ Even the jackal bears the beast and nurses their cubs; but the daughter of my people has become ruthless, like ostriches in the wilderness. ⁴ The tongue of the nursling cleaves to its palate in thirst. Children beg for food, _⌊no one lays it out before them_⌋.*

⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of famine; they have pined away, very hungry for the crops of my field. ¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women, have cooked their children; they became as something to eat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

²⁹ For behold, days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that did not give birth, and the breasts that did not nurse!'

¹² Therefore, I will divide to him a portion among the many,* and with the strong ones he will divide bounty, _⌊because_⌋* he poured his life out to death and was counted with the transgressors; and* he was the one who bore the sin of many and will intercede for the transgressors.

²⁴ And I will strengthen the arm of the king of Babylon, and I will give my sword into his hand, and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan with the groaning of the mortally wounded _⌊before him_⌋.*

²⁰ So David came to Baal Perazim and defeated them there; and David said, "Yahweh has burst through my enemies before me like the bursting of water." Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.*

² You have made the land quake. You have split it open. Heal its fissures, because it totters.

²² this is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him:
She shows contempt for you; she derides you, virgin daughter of Zion; she shakes her head behind you, daughter of Jerusalem.

²² Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healer there? Why, then, has the healing of the daughter of my people not been restored?

¹² For thus says Yahweh,
'Your injury is incurable, your wound is overcome by sickness. ¹³ There is no one who pleads your cause, for your boil there is no healing for you. ¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not care for you. I have struck you with the blow of an enemy, the punishment of the cruel, because of the greatness of your guilt, your sins are numerous. ¹⁵ Why do you cry because of your wound? Your pain is incurable. Because of the greatness of your guilt—your sins are vast— I have done these things to you.

⁸ Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered. Wail over her! Take balm for her wounds, perhaps she may be healed. ⁹ We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed. Forsake her and let us go each one to his country, for her judgment has reached to the heavens, and it has been lifted up to the skies.

¹² 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_⌋.*

³ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring up against you many nations like the stirring up of the sea _⌊stirring up its waves_⌋.* ⁴ And I will destroy the walls of Tyre, and they will demolish its towers, and I will scrape away its earthen dirt from it, and I will make it into _⌊a bare rock_⌋.*

¹² And so he has carried out his words which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring upon us a great calamity which was not done under all of heaven as it was done in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ Elders* and _⌊the respectable_⌋* are the head, and prophets* who teach lies* are the tail. ¹⁶ And the leaders of this people were misleading them, and those who were led were confused.

¹ "Call with the throat; you must not keep back! lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare* to my people their rebellion, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

⁸ The priests did not say, 'Where is Yahweh?' and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have _⌊rebelled against me_⌋,* and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after things which do not profit.

³¹ The prophets prophesy _⌊falsely_⌋,* and the priests rule _⌊by their own authority_⌋,* and my people love it* so much. But what will you do _⌊when the end comes_⌋?*

¹³ "For from the smallest of them to the greatest of them, _⌊everyone_⌋* makes profit for unlawful gain. And from the prophet to the priest, _⌊everyone_⌋* practices deceit. ¹⁴ And they have treated the wound of my people lightly, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Peace, peace,' but there is no peace.

¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives to others, their fields to conquerors, because from the smallest to the greatest, all of them make profit for unlawful gain, from prophet to priest, all of them practice deceit. ¹¹ And they have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Peace, peace,' but there is no peace.

¹³ Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh, look, the prophets are saying to them, 'You will not see the sword, and famine will not be yours, but reliable peace I will give to you in this place.'" ¹⁴ And Yahweh said to me, "The prophets are prophesying lies* in my name. I have not sent them, and I have not commanded them, and I have not spoken to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, and a divination, worthless, and the deceitfulness of their _⌊minds_⌋."* ¹⁵ _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophecy in my name though I have not sent them, yet they are saying, "Sword and famine will not be in this land." "By the sword and by the famine those prophets will perish.

¹¹ "For both prophet as well as priest are godless, even in my temple I have found their wickedness," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ¹² "_⌊Therefore_⌋* their way will be to them like the slippery places, they will be pushed in the darkness, and they will fall into it, for I will bring disaster on them in the year of their punishment," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ¹³ "Now in the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing. They prophesied by Baal and they caused my people Israel to err. ¹⁴ And in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible. They commit adultery, and they walk in lies,* and they make strong the hands of evildoers, so that they have not turned back each from his wickedness. All of them have become to me like Sodom, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah." ¹⁵ _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets,
"Look, I am going to let them eat wormwood and I will give them water of poison to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem went out ungodliness to all the land." ¹⁶ Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
"You must not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you with visions of their _⌊mind_⌋,* They do not speak from the mouth of Yahweh. ¹⁷ They are* continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh, 'Peace it will be to you,' and to _⌊each one_⌋* who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, 'Calamity will not come upon you.'

²² But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.

²⁵ "I have heard what the prophets who prophesy lies* have said in my name, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'I have dreamed! I have dreamed!' ²⁶ _⌊How long_⌋* will this be in the hearts* of the prophets who prophesy lies,* even the prophets of the deceitfulness of their hearts,* ²⁷ who plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell each one to his neighbor, just as their ancestors* forgot my name through Baal? ²⁸ The prophet who has with him a dream, let him tell the dream. But the prophet* who has my word with him, let him speak my word faithfully. _⌊What is straw compared to wheat_⌋?"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ²⁹ "Is not my word like fire?" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and like a blacksmith's hammer that breaks a rock into pieces?

³¹ Look, I am against the prophets," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "who take their tongues* and declare as prophets, 'Yahweh _⌊declares_⌋.'* ³² Look, I am against those who prophesy dreams of lies,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and tell them, and they caused my people to err through their lies, and in their recklessness, when I myself have not sent them nor commanded them, so they profit not this people at all," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ³³ "Now when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, ask you, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'What is the burden* of Yahweh?' then you shall say to them, '_⌊You are the burden_⌋,* and I will forsake you,'" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ³⁴ "And the prophet, and the priest, and the people who say, 'The burden* of Yahweh,' I will punish that man and his house.

³⁶ But you shall not mention the burden* of Yahweh, for the burden* is to each one his word, and so you twist the words of the living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God.

⁹ And you, you must not listen to your prophets, and to your diviners, and to your dreamers, and to your interpreters of signs, and to your sorcerers who are _⌊saying_⌋,* 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.' ¹⁰ For they are prophesying to you a lie, so that you will be removed from your land, and I will drive you away, and you will perish.

¹⁴ And you must not listen to the words of the prophets who are speaking to you, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'You must not serve the king of Babylon,' for they are prophesying a lie to you. ¹⁵ For I have not sent them," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "but they are prophesying in my name _⌊falsely_⌋,* so that I will drive them away. And you will perish—you and the prophets who are prophesying to you." ¹⁶ Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, _⌊saying_⌋,* "Thus says Yahweh, 'You must not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, _⌊saying_⌋,* "Look, the vessels of the house of Yahweh are about to be quickly brought back from Babylon", for they are prophesying a lie to you.

¹⁵ Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, "Please listen, Hananiah, Yahweh has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.

⁸ For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Do not let your prophets who are in your midst, and your diviners, deceive you, and you must not listen to your dreams that you are causing them to dream. ⁹ For they are prophesying _⌊falsely_⌋* to you in my name; I have not sent them,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

¹⁹ And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land'?

² "Son of man,* prophesy to* the prophets of Israel _⌊who are prophesying_⌋,* and you must say to those who are prophets out of their own _⌊imagination_⌋,* 'Hear the word of Yahweh!' ³ Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Alas, for the foolish prophets who are going after their own spirit, _⌊and they did not see anything_⌋!* ⁴ Your prophets have been like foxes* among ruins. ⁵ You did not go up into* the breaches and repair a wall for the house of Israel to stand firm in the battle on the day of Yahweh. ⁶ They saw falseness and _⌊a lying divination_⌋,* the ones saying, 'Declaration of Yahweh!' and Yahweh did not send them, and they wait _⌊for the confirmation of their word_⌋.* ⁷ Have you not seen _⌊a false vision_⌋* and spoken a _⌊lying divination_⌋,* and you said, 'Declaration of Yahweh!' but _⌊I myself did not speak_⌋.* ⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Because of your speaking falseness and because you envisioned a lie, therefore, look! I am against you!" _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh. ⁹ "And it will be my hand against the prophets who are seeing falseness and who are practicing lying divination. They will not be in the council of my people, and they will not be written down in the record book of the house of Israel, and into* the land of Israel they will not come, and then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁰ Because, yes, because they led my people astray, _⌊saying_⌋* 'Peace!' And there is not peace. And when anyone* builds a flimsy wall, look, they coat it with whitewash. ¹¹ Say to those covering it with whitewash that it will fall; there will be _⌊a torrent of rain_⌋,* and I will give stones of hail; they will fall! * And a _⌊windstorm_⌋* will burst forth! ¹² And look! When the wall falls, will it not be said to you, 'Where is the whitewash with which you covered it?' ¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'And so I will let burst forth a _⌊windstorm_⌋* in my rage, and _⌊there will be a torrent of rain_⌋* in my anger, and hailstones in my rage _⌊for complete destruction_⌋.* ¹⁴ And I will break down the wall that you covered with whitewash, and I will knock it to the ground, and its foundation will be revealed, and it will fall, and you will come to an end in the midst of it, and you will know that I am Yahweh! ¹⁵ And I will fully vent my rage against the wall and against those covering it with whitewash, and I will say to you, "_⌊The wall is no more_⌋,* and _⌊the people covering it are no more_⌋,* ¹⁶ that is, the prophets of Israel, the ones prophesying concerning Jerusalem and the ones seeing visions of peace, and there is not peace!'" " _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

²² Because you disheartened the heart of the righteous by deception, and I have not* caused him pain, and strengthened the hands of the wicked so that he did not turn* from his wicked way to save his life.

²⁵ The conspiracy of its prophets in the midst of her is like a roaring lion that is tearing prey. They devour people, and they take wealth and treasure; they make its widows numerous in the midst of her.

²⁸ And for them its prophets plaster whitewash; they are seeing falseness and are practicing divination for them by lying, saying, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh,' and Yahweh has not spoken.

¹¹ If a man walks about in a spirit of deception and lies, saying "I will preach to you of wine and strong drink," then he would be a preacher for this people!

⁵ Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who are leading my people astray, who are biting with their teeth and proclaim, "Peace," but whoever puts nothing into their mouths they declare war against.

⁴ Her prophets are arrogant men of treachery; her priests have defiled that which is holy; they do violence to the law.

¹ But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you also, who will bring in _⌊destructive heresies_⌋*, even denying the Master who bought them, thus* bringing on themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their licentious ways, because of whom the way of truth will be reviled. ³ And in greediness they will exploit you with false words, whose condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

²² "And the next generation, that is, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a distant land, when* they will see the plagues of that land and its diseases that Yahweh has inflicted upon it, will say, ²³ 'All its land is brimstone and salt left by fire, _⌊none of its land will be sown_⌋,* and it will not make plants sprout out and it will not grow any vegetation; it is as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in his anger and in his wrath.' ²⁴ And all the nations will say, '_⌊Why_⌋* has Yahweh done _⌊such a thing_⌋* to this land? What caused the fierceness of this great anger?' ²⁵ And they will say,* 'It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,* which he _⌊made_⌋* with them _⌊when he brought them out_⌋* from the land of Egypt. ²⁶ And they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods whom they did not know them and he* had not allotted to them. ²⁷ So _⌊the anger of Yahweh was kindled_⌋* against that land to bring upon it all the curses written in this scroll, ²⁸ and Yahweh uprooted them from their land in anger and in wrath and in great fury, and he cast them into another land, _⌊just as it is today_⌋.'*

⁷ then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, even the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples. ⁸ This house shall become a heap of ruins; all those passing by will be appalled by it and hiss, and they will say, 'On what account did Yahweh do this to this land and to this house?' ⁹ And they will say, 'Because they have forsaken Yahweh their God who brought their ancestors* out from the land of Egypt and they embraced other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them all of this disaster.'"

²¹ This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him:
She despises you, she scorns you, the virgin daughter of Zion. Behind you the daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head.

²¹ And as for this house, which was exalted, all who pass by it will be appalled and will say, 'Why has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?'

²² And it hurls at him, and it has no compassion; he will quickly flee from its power. ²³ It claps its hands over him, and it hisses at him from its place.

⁷ All who see me mock me. They open wide their lips; they shake the head, saying:

¹⁴ You have made us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. ¹⁵ _⌊All day long_⌋* my disgrace is before me, and the shame of my face covers me,

² Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is _⌊Mount Zion_⌋,* _⌊in the far north_⌋,* the city of the great king.

² From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.

¹⁶ To make their land a horror, an object of whistling for eternity. All who pass by it will be appalled, and he will shake his head.

⁸ And I will make this city a horror, and an object of hissing, everyone who passes by it will be appalled, and will hiss because of all its wounds.

⁹ look, I am going to send and take all the clans* of the north,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, 'and I will send* to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations all around, and I will destroy them, and I will make them a horror, and an object of hissing, and _⌊everlasting ruins_⌋.*

¹⁸ Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and its kings, and its officials, to make them a site of ruins, a horror, an object of hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

¹⁸ And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague, and I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, and a horror, and an object of hissing, and a disgrace among all the nations to which I have driven them,

³⁷ And Babylon will become as a heap of stones, a lair of jackals, an object of horror, and an object of hissing, _⌊without_⌋* inhabitants.

⁸ Jerusalem sinned grievously, thus she became an objection of derision; all those who honored her despise her because they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns away.

⁶ 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.

¹⁶ They have opened their mouths against you, all your enemies. They hiss and gnash a tooth, and they say, "We have destroyed her! Surely this is the day we have hoped for; we have found it, we have seen it!"

⁶ For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because of clapping your hand and stamping with your foot, and because you rejoiced in* yourself with all of your malice over the land of Israel,

¹⁶ For you have observed the regulations of Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab. And you have walked in their counsels, so that I am making you a desolation and your inhabitants an object of scorn. So you will bear the scorn of my people.

¹⁹ There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you will clap their hands for joy concerning you, _⌊For who has not suffered at the hands of your endless cruelty_⌋?*

¹⁵ This is the city of rejoicing that lived securely; the one saying in her heart, "_⌊I am, and there is none besides me_⌋."* How she has become a desolation, a lair for wild animals! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

³⁹ And those who passed by reviled him, shaking their heads

²⁹ And those who passed by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! The one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it* in three days,

⁹ His wrath has torn, and he has been hostile toward me; he gnashed at me with his teeth. My foe sharpens his eyes against me. ¹⁰ They gaped at me with their mouth; they struck my cheeks with disgrace; they have massed themselves together against me.

¹³ They open their mouth against me like a lion tearing and roaring.

¹⁶ Among the ungodly of the mockers at feasts,* they gnashed at me with their teeth.

²¹ They also made wide their mouths* against me. They said, "Aha! Aha! Our eyes have seen it."

¹² The wicked plans evil against the righteous, and gnashes at him with his teeth.

⁸ "A ruinous thing is poured out on him, and now that he lies down, he will not rise up again."

² My enemies* trample all day, because many are attacking me proudly.

³ He will send from heaven and save me; he will reproach the one who tramples me. Selah God will send his loyal love and his faithfulness.

² for _⌊wicked and deceitful mouths_⌋* have opened against me. They speak to me with a lying tongue.

¹⁰ The wicked* sees it and is vexed. He gnashes his teeth and _⌊becomes weak_⌋.* The desire of the wicked* perishes.

³ then they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger was kindled against us.

¹⁹ Surely your sites of ruins and desolate places and land of ruins,*
surely now you will be _⌊too cramped for your_⌋* inhabitants,* and those who engulfed you will be far away.

⁷ All those who found them have devoured them. And their foes have said, 'We are not guilty, _⌊because_⌋* they have sinned against Yahweh, the _⌊true pasture_⌋,* even Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.'*

¹⁷ Israel is a sheep scattered, lions drove them away. The first who devoured it was the king of Assyria, and now at the end Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, gnawed its bones."

³⁴ Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me and sucked me dry; he has made me an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like the sea monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies; he has rinsed me.

⁴⁶ All our enemies have opened their mouth against us.

³ and you must say to the _⌊Ammonites_⌋,* 'Hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because of your saying, 'Ah!' to my sanctuary when it was profaned, and to the land of Israel when it was* desolate, and to the house of Judah when they went into the exile,

¹⁵ Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because of the _⌊acting_⌋* of the Philistines in vengeance, so that they avenged themselves relentlessly with malice in themselves for destruction _⌊with everlasting hostility_⌋,*

³ Therefore prophesy, and you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "_⌊Because indeed_⌋* _⌊when you were desolate_⌋,* then they crushed you from all around, so that you became a possession to the remainder* of the nations, and you became _⌊a byword and object of slander for the people_⌋."*

⁸ Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the nations, like an object that no one desires.

¹² But you should not have gloated* over your brother's day, on the day of his misfortune, and you should not have rejoiced over the _⌊people_⌋* of Judah on the day of their perishing, and you should not have opened your mouth wide on the day of distress. ¹³ You should not have entered the gate of my people on the day of their disaster. You also should not have gloated over his misery on the day of his disaster, and you should not have stretched out your hands on the day of his disaster. ¹⁴ And you should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives and you should not have handed over his survivors on the day of distress. ¹⁵ "For the day of Yahweh is near against all the nations! Just as you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return on your own head. ¹⁶ For just as you have drunk on _⌊my holy mountain_⌋,* all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and they will slurp, and they will be as if they had never been.

⁸ I have heard the reproaches of Moab and the scorning of the _⌊Ammonites_⌋,* with which they have taunted my nation and made boasts against their territory. ⁹ "Therefore, as I live"—a declaration of Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel— "Moab shall be as Sodom, and the _⌊Ammonites_⌋* like Gomorrah, a place of weeds and salt pits and a desolation forever. The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the remainder of my nation shall possess them." ¹⁰ This shall be for them in place of their pride because they mocked and boasted against the people of Yahweh of hosts.

⁵⁴ Now when they* heard these things, they were infuriated in their hearts and gnashed their* teeth at him.

¹⁴ " 'But* if you do not listen to me and you do not carry out* all these commands, ¹⁵ and if you reject my statutes and if your inner self* abhors my regulations, to not carry out* all my commands by your breaking my covenant, ¹⁶ I _⌊in turn_⌋* will do this to you: then* I will summon onto you horror, the wasting disease, and the fever that wastes eyes and that drains away life; and you shall sow your seed _⌊in vain_⌋,* and your enemies shall eat it. ¹⁷ And I will set my face against you, and you shall be defeated _⌊before_⌋* your enemies; and your haters shall rule over you, and you shall flee away, but* there shall not be _⌊anybody who is pursuing_⌋* you. ¹⁸ " 'And if in spite of these things you do not listen to me, then* I will continue to discipline you seven times for your sins. ¹⁹ And I will break the pride of your strength; and I will make your heaven like iron* and your land like copper. ²⁰ And your strength shall be consumed _⌊in vain_⌋;* and your land shall not give its produce, and the land's trees shall not give their fruit. ²¹ " 'And if you go against me in hostility and you are not willing to listen to me, then* I will add a plague onto you seven times according to your sins. ²² And I will send _⌊wild animals_⌋* out among you, and they shall make you childless, and they shall cut down your domestic animals, and they shall make you fewer; and your roads shall be desolate. ²³ " 'And if you do not accept correction from* me through these things, but* you go against me in hostility, ²⁴ then* I myself* will also go against you in hostility, and I myself* also will strike you seven times for your sins. ²⁵ And I will bring upon you a sword that seeks vengeance for the covenant, and you shall be gathered to your cities; and I will send a plague in your midst, and you shall be given into the hand of an enemy. ²⁶ At my breaking the _⌊supply_⌋* of bread* for you, then* ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall return your bread by weight; and you shall eat it, and you shall not be satisfied. ²⁷ " 'And if through this you do not listen to me and you go against me in hostility, ²⁸ then* I will go against you in hostile anger, and also* I myself* will discipline you seven times for your sins. ²⁹ And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat. ³⁰ And I will destroy your high places, and I will cut down your incense altars, and I will place your corpses on your idols' corpses; and my inner self* shall abhor you. ³¹ And I will lay your cities in ruins, and I will lay waste your sanctuaries; and I shall not smell your sacrifices'* appeasing fragrance. ³² And I myself* will lay waste the land, and your enemies who are living in it shall be appalled over it. ³³ And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword behind you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a ruin. ³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of its lying desolate, and you shall be in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths. ³⁵ All the days of its lying desolate it shall rest for the time* that it had not rested during your Sabbaths while you were living on it. ³⁶ As for* the ones who remain among you, I will bring* fearfulness in their hearts in the land of their enemies; and a sound of a windblown leaf shall pursue them, and they shall flee like flight _⌊before_⌋* a sword, and they shall fall, but* there shall not be a pursuer. ³⁷ And they shall stumble over _⌊one another_⌋* as _⌊from before_⌋* a sword, but* there shall not be a pursuer; and _⌊you shall have no resistance_⌋* _⌊before_⌋* your enemies. ³⁸ And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you. ³⁹ And because of their guilt, the ones among you who remain shall decay in the land of their enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their ancestors,* they shall decay with them. ⁴⁰ " 'But* when they confess their guilt and the guilt of their ancestors* in their infidelity that they displayed against me, and moreover that they went against me in hostility— ⁴¹ I myself* also* went against them in hostility, and I brought them into the land of their enemies—or if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and then they pay for their guilt, ⁴² I will remember* my covenant with Jacob; and I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ And the land shall be deserted by them, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths in its being desolate from them, and they themselves* must pay for their guilt, _⌊simply because_⌋* they rejected my regulations, and their inner self* abhorred my statutes. ⁴⁴ And _⌊in spite of_⌋* this, _⌊when they are_⌋* in the land of their enemies I will not reject them, and I will not abhor them to destroy them, to break my covenant with them, because I am Yahweh their God. ⁴⁵ And I will remember the first covenant for them*—whom I brought out from the land of Egypt _⌊in the sight of_⌋* the nations _⌊to be their God_⌋.* I am Yahweh.'" ⁴⁶ These are the rules and the regulations and the laws that Yahweh gave between himself and the _⌊Israelites_⌋* on _⌊Mount Sinai_⌋* _⌊through_⌋* Moses.

¹⁵ "_⌊And then_⌋* if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God _⌊by diligently observing_⌋* all of his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you _⌊today_⌋,* then all of these curses shall come upon you, and they shall overtake you: ¹⁶ "You shall* be cursed in the city, and you shall be cursed in the field. ¹⁷ "Your basket shall be cursed and your kneading trough. ¹⁸ "The fruit of your womb shall be cursed and the fruit of you ground, the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock. ¹⁹ "You shall be cursed _⌊when you come in_⌋,* and you shall be cursed _⌊when you go out_⌋.* ²⁰ "Yahweh will send upon you* the curse,* the panic,* and the threat* _⌊in everything that you undertake_⌋,* _⌊until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly_⌋* _⌊because of_⌋* the evil of your deeds in that* you have forsaken me. ²¹ Yahweh will cause the plague to cling to you _⌊until it consumes you_⌋* from the land that you are going to,* to take possession of it. ²² Yahweh will afflict you with the wasting diseases and with the fever and with the inflammation and with the scorching heat and with the sword* and with the blight and with the mildew, and they shall pursue you _⌊until you perish_⌋.* ²³ And your heavens that are over your heads shall be like bronze, and the earth that is under you shall be like iron. ²⁴ Yahweh will change the rain of your land to fine dust and to sand; from the heaven it shall come down upon you _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋.* ²⁵ "Yahweh shall cause you to be defeated _⌊before_⌋* your enemies; on one road you shall go _⌊against_⌋* them,* but you will flee on seven roads _⌊before_⌋* them,* and you shall become a thing of horror to all of the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And your dead bodies shall be as food for all of the birds of the heaven and to the animals of the earth, and there shall not be _⌊anyone to frighten them away_⌋.* ²⁷ "Yahweh shall afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scurvy and with _⌊the skin rash that cannot be healed_⌋.* ²⁸ Yahweh shall afflict you with madness and with blindness and with confusion of heart. ²⁹ And you shall be groping at noon just as the blind person gropes in the dark, and you shall not succeed in finding your way, and you shall only be abused and robbed _⌊all the time_⌋,* and there will not be _⌊anyone who will rescue you_⌋. * ³⁰ You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall sleep* with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; a vineyard you shall plant, but you shall not enjoy it. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat it; your donkey shall be stolen right _⌊before you_⌋,* and it shall not be returned to you; your sheep and your goats shall be given to your enemies, and _⌊there shall not be anyone who rescues you_⌋.* ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to other people, and _⌊you will be looking on_⌋* _⌊longingly_⌋* for* them all day, _⌊but you will be powerless to do anything_⌋.* ³³ A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed _⌊for the rest of your lives_⌋.* ³⁴ You shall become mad _⌊because of what your eyes shall see_⌋.* ³⁵ Yahweh shall strike you with grievous boils on the knees and on the upper thighs from which _⌊you will not be able to be healed_⌋,* from the sole of your foot and up to your crown. ³⁶ Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you set up over you to a nation that you or your ancestors* have not known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ And you will become a horror and a proverb and ridicule among all the peoples where Yahweh drives you there. ³⁸ "You shall carry out much seed to the field, but you shall gather little produce, for the locust shall devour it. ³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and you shall dress* them, but you shall not drink wine and you shall not gather grapes, for the worm shall eat it.* ⁴⁰ There shall be olive trees for you in all of your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself, for your olives* shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall bear sons and daughters, but they shall not be _⌊yours_⌋,* for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² The cricket shall take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ⁴³ The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but you shall be the tail. ⁴⁵ "And all of these curses shall come over you, and they shall pursue you, and they shall overtake you _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* because _⌊you did not listen_⌋* to the voice of Yahweh your God, _⌊by observing_⌋* his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be among you as a sign and as a wonder and among your offspring _⌊forever_⌋.* ⁴⁷ "_⌊Because_⌋* of the fact that you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, ⁴⁸ then you shall serve your enemies, whom Yahweh will send against you under conditions of famine, in thirst, in nakedness, and in a lack of everything; and he shall place* a yoke of iron on your neck _⌊until he has destroyed you_⌋.* ⁴⁹ Yahweh will raise up against you a nation from far off, from the end of the earth, attacking as the eagle swoops down, _⌊a nation whose language you will not understand_⌋,* ⁵⁰ _⌊a grim-faced nation_⌋* _⌊who does not show respect_⌋* to the old and the young and does not show pity. ⁵¹ And it* shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* and who will not leave for you any grain, wine, and olive oil, _⌊calves of your herds_⌋,* and _⌊lambs of_⌋* your flock _⌊until it has destroyed you_⌋.* ⁵² And it shall besiege you in all your towns _⌊until your high and fortified walls fall_⌋,* which you are trusting in* _⌊throughout your land_⌋;* and it shall besiege you in all of your towns in all of your land that Yahweh your God has given to you. ⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁴ The most refined and the very sensitive* man among you _⌊shall be mean with his brother_⌋* and _⌊against his beloved wife_⌋* and against the rest* of his children that he has left over, ⁵⁵ _⌊by refraining from giving_⌋* to even one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because there is not anything that is left over for him _⌊during the siege and distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁶ The most refined and the most delicate woman among you, who shall* not venture to put the sole of her foot on the ground from being so delicate and from such gentleness, _⌊shall be mean to her beloved husband_⌋* and against her son and against her daughter, ⁵⁷ and even concerning her afterbirth _⌊that goes out_⌋* from between her feet and also concerning her children that she bears, because she eats them for lack of anything in secret _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon her in your _⌊towns_⌋.* ⁵⁸ "If _⌊you do not diligently observe_⌋* all the words of this law written in this scroll by revering this glorious and awesome name, Yahweh your God, ⁵⁹ then Yahweh shall overwhelm you with your plagues and the plagues of your offspring, severe plagues and lasting illnesses, grievous and enduring. ⁶⁰ And he shall bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt concerning which _⌊you were in dread_⌋* _⌊because of them_⌋.* ⁶¹ Also any illness and any plague* that is not written in the scroll of this law, he shall bring them, Yahweh, upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² And you shall remain _⌊only a few people_⌋* in place of the fact you were formerly as the stars of heaven as far as number is concerned, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God. ⁶³ _⌊And then_⌋* as Yahweh delighted over you _⌊to make you prosperous_⌋* to make you numerous, so Yahweh shall delight over you to exterminate you* and to destroy you, and so you shall be plucked from the land that you are going there to take possession of it. ⁶⁴ And Yahweh shall scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth up to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods that you have not known nor* your ancestors,* gods of wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among these nations you shall not find rest, and there shall not be a resting place for the sole of your foot, and Yahweh shall give you there an anxious heart and a weakening of eyes* and a languishing of your inner self.* ⁶⁶ And _⌊your life shall hang in doubt before you_⌋,* and you shall be startled* night and day, and you shall not be confident of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, '_⌊If only it was evening_⌋!'* and in the evening you shall say '_⌊If only it was morning_⌋!'* because of the dread of your heart that you shall feel, and because of the sight of your eyes that you shall see. ⁶⁸ And Yahweh shall bring you back to Egypt in ships by the route that I _⌊promised_⌋* to you that '_⌊You shall not see it again_⌋!'* And you shall sell yourself there to your enemies as slaves and as female slaves, but there will not be a buyer."

¹⁸ so that _⌊there is not_⌋* among you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe _⌊whose heart_⌋* turns _⌊today_⌋* from being with Yahweh our God to go to serve the gods of these nations, so that there is not among you a root sprouting poison and wormwood. ¹⁹ And then when he hears the words of this oath, then* _⌊he will assure himself_⌋* in his heart, _⌊saying_⌋,* '_⌊Safety shall be mine even though I go in the stubbornness of my heart_⌋,'* thereby destroying the well-watered land along with the parched.* ²⁰ Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for by then the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law. ²² "And the next generation, that is, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a distant land, when* they will see the plagues of that land and its diseases that Yahweh has inflicted upon it, will say, ²³ 'All its land is brimstone and salt left by fire, _⌊none of its land will be sown_⌋,* and it will not make plants sprout out and it will not grow any vegetation; it is as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in his anger and in his wrath.'

¹⁶ And Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, you are about to lie down with your ancestors,* and this people will arise and they* will play the prostitute after _⌊the foreign gods_⌋* of the land _⌊to which they are going_⌋.* ¹⁷ And _⌊my anger shall flare up against them_⌋* on that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they* shall become as prey, and disasters and troubles shall find* them,* and they* shall say on that day, 'Is it not because our* God is not in our* midst that these disasters have found* us?'*

¹⁵ And Jeshurun grew fat, and he kicked; you grew fat, you bloated, and you became obstinate; and he abandoned God, his maker, and he scoffed at the rock of his salvation. ¹⁶ They made him jealous with strange gods; with detestable things they provoked him. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to the demons, not God, to gods whom* they had not known, new gods who* came from recent times; _⌊their ancestors had not known them_⌋.* ¹⁸ The rock who* bore you, you neglected, and you forgot God, the one giving you birth. ¹⁹ Then Yahweh saw, and he spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. ²⁰ So he said, 'I will hide my face from them; I will see what will be their end, for they are a generation of perversity, _⌊children in whom there is no faithfulness_⌋.* ²¹ They annoyed me with what is not a god; they provoked me with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those not a people, with a foolish nation I will provoke them. ²² For a fire was kindled* by my anger, and it burned _⌊up to the depths of Sheol_⌋,* and it devoured the earth and its produce, and it set afire the foundation of the mountains. ²³ I will heap disasters upon them; my arrows I will spend on them. ²⁴ They will become weakened by famine, and consumed by plague and bitter pestilence; and the teeth of wild animals I will send against them, with the poison of the creeping things in the dust; ²⁵ From outside her boundaries the sword will make her childless, and from inside, terror; both for the young man and also the young woman, the infant along with the gray-headed man. ²⁶ I thought, "I will wipe them out; _⌊I will make people forget they ever existed_⌋."* ²⁷ If I had not feared a provocation of the enemy, lest their foes might misunderstand, * lest they should say, * "Our hand is _⌊triumphant_⌋,* and Yahweh did not do all this." '

¹⁶ For I said, "Help, lest they rejoice over me, lest they boast against me when my foot slips."

⁴² You have raised the right hand* of his adversaries. You have made all his enemies rejoice.

¹¹ "So now then, say, please, to the _⌊people_⌋* of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Thus says Yahweh, "Look, I am preparing evil against you, and I am planning a plan against you. Please turn back, each one from his evil way, and walk rightly in your ways and your deeds." '

⁵ 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.

¹ How, _⌊in his anger_⌋,* the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in a cloud! He has thrown down from heavens to earth the splendor of Israel, and he has not remembered his footstool in the day of _⌊his anger_⌋.* ² The Lord has devoured; he has not shown mercy to all the dwellings of Jacob; he has broken down in his wrath the fortifications of the daughter of Judah; he has leveled to the ground, he has dishonored the kingdom and its commanders.*

⁸ 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.

⁸ _⌊Soon_⌋* I will pour out my rage on you, and I will fully vent my anger on you, and I will judge you according to your ways, and I will bring on you all of your detestable things. ⁹ 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.*

³ Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Look! I am planning disaster against this family from which you will not be able to remove your necks. You will not walk proudly, for it is a time of disaster.

¹³⁶ Streams of water flow down from my eyes, because people do not heed your law.

¹⁴⁵ I call with my whole heart; answer me, O Yahweh. I will keep your statutes.

¹⁶ Yahweh, in distress they have visited you; they poured out an _⌊incantation_⌋;* your discipline was on them. ¹⁷ Like a pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes; she cries in her labor pains.
So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.

³¹ For I heard a voice like an ill woman, anxiety like a woman who bears her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She is gasping for breath, she is spreading out her hands: "Woe is me, for I am becoming tired* before killers."

¹ * _⌊Oh that my head were waters_⌋,* and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night, for the slain of the daughter of my people.

¹⁷ Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
"Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come, and for the skillful women, so that they come. ¹⁸ And let them hasten, and let them lift up wailing over us, so that our eyes may melt with tears, and our eyelids may flow with water.

¹⁷ But if you will not listen to it, my inner self* will weep in secret places, because of _⌊the presence of_⌋* your pride. And my eyes* will weep bitterly, and they will melt in tears, because the flock of Yahweh has been taken captive.

² She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears are on her cheeks; she has no comforter among all her lovers. All her friends have been unfaithful to her; they have become her enemies.

⁴⁸ Channels of water run down my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹ My eyes have poured down unceasingly without respite,

¹⁴ They do not cry out to me from their heart, but they wail on their beds; because of grain and new wine they lacerate* themselves; they depart from me.

¹¹ For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the plaster from the wood will answer it.

¹⁹ So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle night-watch, when they had just finished setting up the guards, and they blew on the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.*

¹⁵ But Hannah answered and said, "No, my lord. I am a woman _⌊deeply distressed_⌋,* but I have not drunk wine or strong drink. Rather, I have poured out my soul before Yahweh.

⁶ So they gathered to Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before Yahweh. They fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against Yahweh!" So Samuel judged the _⌊Israelites_⌋* at Mizpah.

²⁴ For* my sighing comes _⌊before_⌋* my bread,* and my groanings gush forth like water

² Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your holy inner sanctuary.

⁸ By day Yahweh commands his loyal love, and in the night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

⁸ Trust him at all times, O people; pour out before him your heart. God is a refuge for us. Selah

⁴ So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my _⌊hands_⌋* in your name.

⁵⁵ I remember your name in the night, O Yahweh, and I heed your law.

¹⁴⁷ I rise early in the dawn and cry for help; I hope in your word.* ¹⁴⁸ My eyes anticipate the night watches, that I may meditate on your word.

² Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless Yahweh.

² Let my prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting up of my palms as the evening offering.

² I pour out my complaint before him; I declare my trouble before him.

⁹ I desire you with all my soul in the night; also I seek you with my spirit within me, for when your judgments are _⌊upon_⌋* the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

²⁰ Your children have fainted; they lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in* a snare, those who are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.

¹¹ My eyes have _⌊spent all their tears_⌋;* _⌊my stomach_⌋* is in torment, _⌊my heart_⌋* is poured out on the earth because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because child and babe faint in the public squares of a city. ¹² To their mothers they say, "Where is the bread and wine?" as they faint like the wounded in the public squares of a city, as their life is being poured out onto the bosom of their mothers.

¹ How the gold has grown dim, the pure gold has changed. The stones of holiness are scattered at the head of every street. ² The precious sons of Zion weighed against fine gold, how they are thought of as earthen vessels of clay, the work of the potter's hands. ³ Even the jackal bears the beast and nurses their cubs; but the daughter of my people has become ruthless, like ostriches in the wilderness. ⁴ The tongue of the nursling cleaves to its palate in thirst. Children beg for food, _⌊no one lays it out before them_⌋.* ⁵ The ones who eat delicacies, they are ruined in the streets; the ones nurtured in purple lie on piles of trash. ⁶ The iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom; it was overthrown in a moment and no hands were laid on her. ⁷ Her princes were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, sapphire their appearance. ⁸ Now their appearance is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones, it has become dry like wood. ⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of famine; they have pined away, very hungry for the crops of my field.

¹⁰ Therefore* parents* will eat children* in the midst of you, and children* will eat their parents,* and I will execute judgment in you, and I will scatter your entire remnant to every wind.

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁰ Yet she went into captivity as an exile; her children were dashed to pieces at the head of the streets; they cast lots for all of her nobles; all of her dignitaries were bound with chains.

²⁵ And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.

³⁵ And getting up early in the morning while it was very dark, he departed and went to a deserted place, and there he was praying.

³⁵ Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or early in the morning—

¹² Now it happened that in these days he went away to the mountain to pray, and was spending the whole night in prayer to God.

⁸ Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and dispute.

¹¹ And Moses _⌊implored Yahweh_⌋* his God, and he said, "Why, Yahweh, should _⌊your anger blaze_⌋* against your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?

²⁹ And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat.

²⁶ And I prayed to Yahweh, and I said, 'Lord Yahweh, you must not destroy your people and your inheritance whom you redeemed in your greatness,* whom you brought out from Egypt with a strong hand.

⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁴ The most refined and the very sensitive* man among you _⌊shall be mean with his brother_⌋* and _⌊against his beloved wife_⌋* and against the rest* of his children that he has left over, ⁵⁵ _⌊by refraining from giving_⌋* to even one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because there is not anything that is left over for him _⌊during the siege and distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁶ The most refined and the most delicate woman among you, who shall* not venture to put the sole of her foot on the ground from being so delicate and from such gentleness, _⌊shall be mean to her beloved husband_⌋* and against her son and against her daughter, ⁵⁷ and even concerning her afterbirth _⌊that goes out_⌋* from between her feet and also concerning her children that she bears, because she eats them for lack of anything in secret _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon her in your _⌊towns_⌋.*

²⁸ The king said to her, "_⌊What is the problem_⌋?"* Then the woman said, "This woman said to me, 'Give me your son, and let us eat him today, then tomorrow we will eat my son.' ²⁹ So we cooked my son and ate him, and I said to her the next day, 'Give your son that we may eat him.' But she had hidden her son."

⁶⁴ His priests fell by the sword, and his widows did not weep.

¹⁴ So Yahweh cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and reed in one day. ¹⁵ Elders* and _⌊the respectable_⌋* are the head, and prophets* who teach lies* are the tail. ¹⁶ And the leaders of this people were misleading them, and those who were led were confused. ¹⁷ Therefore the Lord did not rejoice over its young men, and he did not have compassion on its orphans and widows, for everyone was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth was speaking folly. In all of this his anger did not turn away, and still his hand is stretched out.

¹⁶ For you are our father, although Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh are our father, Our Redeemer from of old is your name. ¹⁷ Why do you make us wander, Yahweh? You harden our heart from your ways _⌊so that we do not fear_⌋* you. Turn back for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance. ¹⁸ _⌊Your holy people_⌋* took possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. ¹⁹ We have been since antiquity; you did not rule them; _⌊they were not called by your name_⌋.*

⁸ Yet now Yahweh, you are our father; we are the clay and you are our _⌊potter_⌋,* and we all are the work of your hand. ⁹ You must not be exceedingly angry, Yahweh, and you must not remember iniquity forever!
Look! Behold, now! We all are your people! ¹⁰ _⌊Your holy cities_⌋* have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. ¹¹ _⌊Our holy and beautiful temple_⌋,* where our ancestors* praised you has _⌊been burned_⌋* by fire, and all our precious objects have become ruins.* ¹² Will you control yourself because of these, Yahweh? Will you be silent? And will you oppress us exceedingly?

¹⁵ _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophecy in my name though I have not sent them, yet they are saying, "Sword and famine will not be in this land." "By the sword and by the famine those prophets will perish. ¹⁶ And the people to whom they are prophesying will be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem _⌊because of_⌋* the famine and the sword. And there will be no one who buries them, their wives, or their sons, or their daughters. And I will pour out on them their wickedness. ¹⁷ "And you shall say to them this word,
'Let my eyes melt with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for with a great wound the virgin daughter of my people is broken, with a very incurable wound. ¹⁸ If I go out into the field, then look, those slain by the sword. And if I enter the city, then look, the sickness of the famine. For both prophet and priest wander around through the land, _⌊they do not know what is going on_⌋.'"*

²⁰ We know, O Yahweh, our wickedness, the iniquity of our ancestors,* for we have sinned against you. ²¹ You must not spurn us* for the sake of your name, you must not dishonor _⌊your glorious throne_⌋.* Remember us!* You must not break your covenant with us.

⁹ And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and each one will eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress which their enemies and those who seek their life inflict on them." '

¹¹ "For both prophet as well as priest are godless, even in my temple I have found their wickedness," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ¹² "_⌊Therefore_⌋* their way will be to them like the slippery places, they will be pushed in the darkness, and they will fall into it, for I will bring disaster on them in the year of their punishment," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ¹³ "Now in the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing. They prophesied by Baal and they caused my people Israel to err. ¹⁴ And in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible. They commit adultery, and they walk in lies,* and they make strong the hands of evildoers, so that they have not turned back each from his wickedness. All of them have become to me like Sodom, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah." ¹⁵ _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets,
"Look, I am going to let them eat wormwood and I will give them water of poison to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem went out ungodliness to all the land."

¹⁹ I have called to my lovers, they themselves deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city when they sought food for themselves to revive their life.*

¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women, have cooked their children; they became as something to eat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹³ Because of the sins of her prophets, the guilt of her priests, who shed blood in her midst, of righteous people.

⁵ And to the others he said in my hearing, "Go through the city behind him and kill! Your eyes shall not take pity, and you shall not have compassion. ⁶ You must kill _⌊totally_⌋* old man, young man and young woman, and little children and women, but _⌊concerning_⌋* every man _⌊with the mark on him_⌋* you must not approach; and from my sanctuary you must begin." And they began with the old men who _⌊were before_⌋* the house.*

⁵⁰ _⌊a grim-faced nation_⌋* _⌊who does not show respect_⌋* to the old and the young and does not show pity.

²¹ And they utterly destroyed _⌊by the edge of the sword_⌋* all who were in the city, both men and women, young and old, ox, sheep, and donkey.

³ So then, go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that is his! You must not spare him, but kill both man and woman, both child and nursing infant, both ox and sheep, both camel and donkey.'"

¹⁷ Therefore he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He showed no mercy on a young man, a virgin, the elderly, or decrepit. He delivered all into his hand.

¹³ Letters were sent by couriers* to all the provinces of the king to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, _⌊both young and old_⌋,* women and children, on one day, the thirteenth day of the month, that is Adar, and to plunder their goods.

⁶² He also handed his people over to the sword, and he was very angry with his inheritance. ⁶³ Fire devoured his young men, and his young women* were not praised.

¹¹ But I am full with the wrath of Yahweh, I struggle to hold it* in. Pour it out on the children* in the street, and on the assemblies* of young men at the same time. For even husband with wife will get trapped, the old with him who is full of days.

²¹ For death has come into our windows, it has entered into our fortresses, to cut off the children* from the streets,* the young men from the public squares.

²² _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Look, I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters will die by the famine.

²¹ _⌊Therefore_⌋* give their children to the famine, and hand them over to the _⌊power_⌋* of the sword, and let their wives be bereaved and widows, and let their men be killed by death, their young men struck dead by the sword in the battle.

²² And I smash man and woman with you, and I smash the old man and the boy with you, and I smash the young man and the young woman with you.

¹⁵ The Lord has rejected all my mighty ones in my midst. He called an assembly against me, to crush my young men; like in a wine press, the Lord has trodden on the virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁸ 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.

¹⁰ "I sent among you a plague in the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with the captivity of your horses. And I made the stench of your camps go up into your nostrils, yet you did not return to me," is the declaration of Yahweh.

⁶ For I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "Look, I am going to cause humankind to fall, each into the hand of his neighbor, and into the hand of his king; and they will devastate the land, and I will not deliver anyone from their hand."

¹⁸ "The fruit of your womb shall be cursed and the fruit of you ground, the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock.

¹³ For I hear the rumor of many, "Terror on every side!" When conspiring together against me, they have plotted to take my life.

¹⁷ Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, inhabitants* of the earth! ¹⁸ And this shall happen:
The one who flees from the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and the one who goes up from _⌊inside the pit_⌋* shall be caught in the snare, for the windows from heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.

²⁵ You must not go out into the field, and you must not walk on the road, for _⌊the enemy has a sword_⌋,* terror is all around.

² "You shall not take for yourself a wife, there shall not be for you sons and daughters in this place." ³ For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who gave birth to them, and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land: ⁴ "They will die by diseases, they will not be mourned, and they will not be buried. They will be as dung on the face of the earth. And they will perish by the sword and they will perish by the famine. And their dead bodies* will become food for the birds* of the air, and for the wild animals* of the earth."

³ _⌊And then_⌋* on the next day, when Pashhur brought Jeremiah out from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "Yahweh will not call your name Pashhur, _⌊but_⌋* Terror From All Around.

⁵ Why do I see them terrified? They are turning back and their warriors are beaten down. And they have fled to a place of refuge and they do not turn back. Terror is from all around," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

¹² Even though they bring up their children, I will bereave them before maturity.* Woe to them indeed, when I depart from them! ¹³ Ephraim, as I see it, is like a palm in a meadow; but Ephraim must bring out his children to the slayer. ¹⁴ Give them, O Yahweh— what will you give them? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. ¹⁵ Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal, so I began to hate them there; because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them out from my house. I will love them no more; all their officials are rebels. ¹⁶ Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, they shall not bear fruit. Even if they give birth, I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.

¹ I saw my Lord standing by the altar and he said, "Strike the capitals so that the thresholds will shake, and shatter them on the head of all of them, and I will kill the rest of them with the sword. A fugitive belonging to them will not run away, and a survivor belonging to them will not escape. ² If they dig into Sheol, from there my hand will take them, and even if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. ³ And even if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search and will take them, and even if they hide from before my eyes at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the sea serpent and it will bite them. ⁴ And even if they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword and it will kill them, and I will fix my eyes on them for harm and not for good."

²⁹ For behold, days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that did not give birth, and the breasts that did not nurse!' ³⁰ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'