^48:1Of Moab. The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Sorrow on Nebo, for it has been made waste; Kiriathaim has been put to shame and is taken: the strong place is put to shame and broken down. ^48:2The praise of Moab has come to an end; as for Heshbon, evil has been designed against her; come, let us put an end to her as a nation. But your mouth will be shut, O Madmen; the sword will go after you. ^48:3There is the sound of crying from Horonaim, wasting and great destruction; ^48:4Moab is broken; her cry has gone out to Zoar. ^48:5For by the slope of Luhith they will go up, weeping all the way; for on the way down to Horonaim the cry of destruction has come to their ears. ^48:6Go in flight, get away with your lives, and let your faces be turned to Aroer in the Arabah. ^48:7For because you have put your faith in your strong places, you, even you, will be taken: and Chemosh will go out as a prisoner, his priests and his rulers together. ^48:8And the attacker will come against every town, not one will be safe; and the valley will be made waste, and destruction will come to the lowland, as the Lord has said. ^48:9Put up a pillar for Moab, for she will come to a complete end: and her towns will become a waste, without anyone living in them. ^48:10Let him be cursed who does the Lord's work half-heartedly; let him be cursed who keeps back his sword from blood. ^48:11From his earliest days, Moab has been living in comfort; like wine long stored he has not been drained from vessel to vessel, he has never gone away as a prisoner: so his taste is still in him, his smell is unchanged. ^48:12So truly, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will send to him men who will have him turned over till there is no more wine in his vessels, and his wine-skins will be completely broken. ^48:13And Moab will be shamed on account of Chemosh, as the children of Israel were shamed on account of Beth-el their hope. ^48:14How say you, We are men of war and strong fighters? ^48:15He who makes Moab waste has gone up against her; and the best of her young men have gone down to their death, says the King, whose name is the Lord of armies. ^48:16The fate of Moab is near, and trouble is coming on him very quickly. ^48:17All you who are round about him, give signs of grief for him, and all you who have knowledge of his name, say, How is the strong rod broken, even the beautiful branch! ^48:18Come down from your glory, O people of Dibon, and take your seat in the place of the waste; for the attacker of Moab has gone up against you, sending destruction on your strong places. ^48:19O daughter of Aroer, take your station by the way, on the watch: questioning him who is in flight, and her who has got away safe, say, What has been done? ^48:20Moab has been put to shame, she is broken: make loud sounds of grief, crying out for help; give the news in Arnon, that Moab has been made waste. ^48:21And punishment has come on the lowlands; on Holon and Jahzah, and on Mephaath, ^48:22And on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth-diblathaim, ^48:23And on Kiriathaim, and on Beth-gamul, and on Beth-meon, ^48:24And on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the towns of the land of Moab, far and near. ^48:25The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the Lord. ^48:26Make him full of wine, for his heart has been lifted up against the Lord: and Moab will be rolling in the food he was not able to keep down, and everyone will be making sport of him. ^48:27For did you not make sport of Israel? was he taken among thieves? for whenever you were talking about him, you were shaking your head over him. ^48:28O people of Moab, go away from the towns and take cover in the rock; be like the dove of the Arabah, which makes her living-place in holes. ^48:29We have had word of the pride of Moab, how great it is; how he is lifted up in pride; and his great opinion of himself, and that his heart is lifted up. ^48:30I have knowledge of his wrath, says the Lord, that it is nothing; his high-sounding words have done nothing. ^48:31For this cause I will give cries of grief for Moab, crying out for Moab, even for all of it; I will be sorrowing for the men of Kir-heres. ^48:32My weeping for you, O vine of Sibmah, will be more than the weeping of Jazer: your branches have gone over the sea, stretching even to Jazer: destruction has come down on your summer fruits and your cut grapes. ^48:33All joy is gone; no longer are they glad for the fertile field and for the land of Moab; I have made the wine come to an end from the crushing vessels: no longer will the grapes be crushed with the sound of glad voices. ^48:34The cry of Heshbon comes even to Elealeh; to Jahaz their voice is sounding; from Zoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim will become dry. ^48:35And I will put an end in Moab, says the Lord, to him who is making offerings in the high place and burning perfumes to his gods. ^48:36So my heart is sounding for Moab like the sound of pipes, and my heart is sounding like pipes for the men of Kir-heres: for the wealth he has got for himself has come to an end. ^48:37For everywhere the hair of the head and the hair of the face is cut off: on every hand there are wounds, and haircloth on every body. ^48:38On all the house-tops of Moab and in its streets there is weeping everywhere; for Moab has been broken like a vessel in which there is no pleasure, says the Lord. ^48:39How is it broken down! how is Moab's back turned in shame! so Moab will be a cause of sport and of fear to everyone round about him. ^48:40For the Lord has said, See, he will come like an eagle in flight, stretching out his wings against Moab. ^48:41Kerioth is taken, and the strong places have been forced, and the hearts of Moab's men of war in that day will be like the heart of a woman in birth-pains. ^48:42And Moab will come to an end as a people, because he has been lifting himself up against the Lord. ^48:43Fear and death and the net have come on you, O people of Moab, says the Lord. ^48:44He who goes in flight from the fear will be overtaken by death; and he who gets free from death will be taken in the net: for I will make this come on Moab, even the year of their punishment, says the Lord. ^48:45Those who went in flight from the fear are waiting under the shade of Heshbon: for a fire has gone out from Heshbon and a flame from the house of Sihon, burning up the pride of Moab and the crown of the head of the violent ones. ^48:46Sorrow is yours, O Moab! the people of Chemosh are overcome: for your sons have been taken away as prisoners, and your daughters made servants. ^48:47But still, I will let the fate of Moab be changed in the last days, says the Lord.

^49:1About the children of Ammon. These are the words of the Lord: Has Israel no sons? has he no one to take the heritage? why then has Milcom taken Gad for himself, putting his people in its towns? ^49:2Because of this, see, the days are coming when I will have a cry of war sounded against Rabbah, the town of the children of Ammon; it will become a waste of broken walls, and her daughter-towns will be burned with fire: then Israel will take the heritage of those who took his heritage, says the Lord. ^49:3Make sounds of grief, O Heshbon, for Ai is wasted; give loud cries, O daughters of Rabbah, and put haircloth round you: give yourselves to weeping, running here and there and wounding yourselves; for Milcom will be taken prisoner together with his rulers and his priests. ^49:4Why are you lifted up in pride on account of your valleys, your flowing valley, O daughter ever turning away? who puts her faith in her wealth, saying, Who will come against me? ^49:5See, I will send fear on you, says the Lord, the Lord of armies, from those who are round you on every side; you will be forced out, every man straight before him, and there will be no one to get together the wanderers. ^49:6But after these things, I will let the fate of the children of Ammon be changed, says the Lord. ^49:7About Edom. This is what the Lord of armies has said. Is there no more wisdom in Teman? have wise suggestions come to an end among men of good sense? has their wisdom completely gone? ^49:8Go in flight, go back, take cover in deep places, you who are living in Dedan; for I will send the fate of Edom on him, even the time of his punishment. ^49:9If men came to get your grapes, would they not let some be uncut on the vines? if thieves came by night, would they not make waste till they had enough? ^49:10I have had Esau searched out, uncovering his secret places, so that he may not keep himself covered: his seed is wasted and has come to an end, and there is no help from his neighbours. ^49:11Put in my care your children who have no father, and I will keep them safe; and let your widows put their faith in me. ^49:12For the Lord has said, Those for whom the cup was not made ready will certainly be forced to take of it; and are you to go without punishment? you will not be without punishment, but will certainly be forced to take from the cup. ^49:13For I have taken an oath by myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah will become a cause of wonder, a name of shame, a waste and a curse; and all its towns will be waste places for ever. ^49:14Word has come to me from the Lord, and a representative has been sent to the nations, to say, Come together and go up against her, and take your places for the fight. ^49:15For see, I have made you small among the nations, looked down on by men. ^49:16... the pride of your heart has been a false hope, O you who are living in the cracks of the rock, keeping your place on the top of the hill: even if you made your living-place as high as the eagle, I would make you come down, says the Lord. ^49:17And Edom will become a cause of wonder: everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder, and make sounds of fear at all her punishments. ^49:18As at the downfall of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbouring towns, says the Lord, no man will be living in it, no son of man will have a resting-place there. ^49:19See, he will come up like a lion from the thick growth of Jordan against the resting-place of Teman: but I will suddenly make him go in flight from her; and I will put over her the man of my selection: for who is like me? and who will put forward his cause against me? and what keeper of sheep will be able to keep his place before me? ^49:20For this cause give ear to the decision of the Lord which he has made against Edom, and to his purposes designed against the people of Teman: Truly, they will be pulled away by the smallest of the flock; truly, he will make waste their fields with them. ^49:21The earth is shaking with the noise of their fall; their cry is sounding in the Red Sea. ^49:22See, he will come up like an eagle in flight, stretching out his wings against Bozrah: and the hearts of Edom's men of war on that day will be like the heart of a woman in birth-pains. ^49:23About Damascus. Hamath is put to shame, and Arpad; for the word of evil has come to their ears, their heart in its fear is turned to water, it will not be quiet. ^49:24Damascus has become feeble, she is turned to flight, fear has taken her in its grip: pain and sorrows have come on her, as on a woman in birth-pains. ^49:25How has the town of praise been wasted, the place of joy! ^49:26So her young men will be falling in her streets, and all the men of war will be cut off in that day, says the Lord of armies. ^49:27And I will have a fire lighted on the wall of Damascus, burning up the great houses of Ben-hadad. ^49:28About Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, overcame. This is what the Lord has said: Up! go against Kedar, and make an attack on the children of the east. ^49:29Their tents and their flocks they will take; they will take away for themselves their curtains and all their vessels and their camels: they will give a cry to them, Fear on every side. ^49:30Go in flight, go wandering far off, take cover in deep places, O people of Hazor, says the Lord; for Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, has made a design against you, he has a purpose against you in mind. ^49:31Up! go against a nation which is living in comfort and without fear of danger, says the Lord, without doors or locks, living by themselves. ^49:32And their camels will be taken from them by force, and their great herds will come into the hands of their attackers: those who have the ends of their hair cut I will send in flight to all the winds; and I will send their fate on them from every side, says the Lord. ^49:33And Hazor will be a hole for jackals, a waste for ever: no one will be living in it, and no son of man will have a resting-place there. ^49:34The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet about Elam, when Zedekiah first became king of Judah, saying, ^49:35This is what the Lord of armies has said: See, I will have the bow of Elam, their chief strength, broken. ^49:36And I will send on Elam four winds from the four quarters of heaven, driving them out to all those winds; there will be no nation into which the wanderers from Elam do not come. ^49:37And I will let Elam be broken before their haters, and before those who are making designs against their lives: I will send evil on them, even my burning wrath, says the Lord; and I will send the sword after them till I have put an end to them: ^49:38I will put the seat of my power in Elam, and in Elam I will put an end to kings and rulers, says the Lord. ^49:39But it will come about that, in the last days, I will let the fate of Elam be changed, says the Lord.

^50:1The word which the Lord said about Babylon, about the land of the Chaldaeans, by Jeremiah the prophet. ^50:2Give it out among the nations, make it public, and let the flag be lifted up; give the word and keep nothing back; say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is broken, her images are put to shame, her gods are broken. ^50:3For out of the north a nation is coming up against her, which will make her land waste and unpeopled: they are in flight, man and beast are gone. ^50:4In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping and making prayer to the Lord their God. ^50:5They will be questioning about the way to Zion, with their faces turned in its direction, saying, Come, and be united to the Lord in an eternal agreement which will be kept in mind for ever. ^50:6My people have been wandering sheep: their keepers have made them go out of the right way, turning them loose on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, having no memory of their resting-place. ^50:7They have been attacked by all those who came across them: and their attackers said, We are doing no wrong, because they have done evil against the Lord in whom is righteousness, against the Lord, the hope of their fathers. ^50:8Go in flight out of Babylon, go out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and be like he-goats before the flocks. ^50:9For see, I am moving and sending up against Babylon a band of great nations from the north country: and they will put their armies in position against her; and from there she will be taken: their arrows will be like those of an expert man of war; not one will come back without getting its mark. ^50:10And the wealth of Chaldaea will come into the hands of her attackers: all those who take her wealth will have enough, says the Lord. ^50:11Because you are glad, because you are lifted up with pride, you wasters of my heritage, because you are playing like a young cow put out to grass, and you make a noise like strong horses; ^50:12Your mother will be put to shame; she who gave you birth will be looked down on: see, she will be the last of the nations, a waste place, a dry and unwatered land. ^50:13Because of the wrath of the Lord no one will be living in it, and it will be quite unpeopled: everyone who goes by Babylon will be overcome with wonder, and make sounds of fear at all her punishments. ^50:14Put your armies in position against Babylon on every side, all you bowmen; let loose your arrows at her, not keeping any back: for she has done evil against the Lord. ^50:15Give a loud cry against her on every side; she has given herself up, her supports are overturned, her walls are broken down: for it is the payment taken by the Lord; give her payment; as she has done, so do to her. ^50:16Let the planter of seed be cut off from Babylon, and everyone using the curved blade at the time of the grain-cutting: for fear of the cruel sword, everyone will be turned to his people, everyone will go in flight to his land. ^50:17Israel is a wandering sheep; the lions have been driving him away: first he was attacked by the king of Assyria, and now his bones have been broken by Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon. ^50:18So this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: See, I will send punishment on the king of Babylon and on his land, as I have given punishment to the king of Assyria. ^50:19And I will make Israel come back to his resting-place, and he will get his food on Carmel and Bashan, and have his desire in full measure on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. ^50:20In those days and in that time, says the Lord, when the evil-doing of Israel is looked for, there will be nothing; and in Judah no sins will be seen: for I will have forgiveness for those whom I will keep safe. ^50:21Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the people of Pekod; put them to death and send destruction after them, says the Lord, and do everything I have given you orders to do. ^50:22There is a sound of war in the land and of great destruction. ^50:23How is the hammer of all the earth cut in two and broken! how has Babylon become a waste among the nations! ^50:24I have put a net for you, and you have been taken, O Babylon, without your knowledge: you have been uncovered and taken because you were fighting against the Lord. ^50:25From his store-house the Lord has taken the instruments of his wrath: for the Lord, the Lord of armies, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldaeans. ^50:26Come up against her one and all, let her store-houses be broken open: make her into a mass of stones, give her to the curse, till there is nothing of her to be seen. ^50:27Put all her oxen to the sword; let them go down to death: sorrow is theirs, for their day has come, the time of their punishment. ^50:28The voice of those who are in flight, who have got away safe from the land of Babylon, to give news in Zion of punishment from the Lord our God, even payment for his Temple. ^50:29Send for the archers to come together against Babylon, all the bowmen; put up your tents against her on every side; let no one get away: give her the reward of her work; as she has done, so do to her: for she has been uplifted in pride against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. ^50:30For this cause her young men will be falling in her streets, and all her men of war will be cut off in that day, says the Lord. ^50:31See, I am against you, O pride, says the Lord, the Lord of armies, for your day has come, the time when I will send punishment on you. ^50:32And pride will go with uncertain steps and have a fall, and there will be no one to come to his help: and I will put a fire in his towns, burning up everything round about him. ^50:33This is what the Lord of armies has said: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are crushed down together: all those who took them prisoner keep them in a tight grip; they will not let them go. ^50:34Their saviour is strong; the Lord of armies is his name: he will certainly take up their cause, so that he may give rest to the earth and trouble to the people of Babylon. ^50:35A sword is on the Chaldaeans, says the Lord, and on the people of Babylon, and on her rulers and on her wise men. ^50:36A sword is on the men of pride, and they will become foolish: a sword is on her men of war, and they will be broken. ^50:37A sword is on all the mixed people in her, and they will become like women: a sword is on her store-houses, and they will be taken by her attackers. ^50:38A sword is on her waters, drying them up; for it is a land of images, and their minds are fixed on false gods. ^50:39For this reason the beasts of the waste land with the wolves will make their holes there and the ostriches will be living in it: never again will men be living there, it will be unpeopled from generation to generation. ^50:40As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbouring towns were overturned by God, says the Lord, so no man will be living in it, and no son of man will have a resting-place there. ^50:41See, a people is coming from the north; a great nation and a number of kings will be put in motion from the inmost parts of the earth. ^50:42Bows and spears are in their hands; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice is like the thunder of the sea, and they go on horses; everyone in his place like men going to the fight, against you, O daughter of Babylon. ^50:43The king of Babylon has had news of them, and his hands have become feeble: trouble has come on him and pain like the pain of a woman in childbirth. ^50:44See, he will come up like a lion from the thick growth of Jordan against the resting-place of Teman: but I will suddenly make them go in flight from her; and I will put over her the man of my selection: for who is like me? and who will put forward his cause against me? and what keeper of sheep will keep his place before me? ^50:45So give ear to the decision of the Lord which he has made against Babylon, and to his purposes designed against the land of the Chaldaeans; Truly, they will be pulled away by the smallest of the flock; truly, he will make waste their fields with them. ^50:46At the cry, Babylon is taken! the earth is shaking, and the cry comes to the ears of the nations.

^51:1The Lord has said: See, I will make a wind of destruction come up against Babylon and against those who are living in Chaldaea; ^51:2And I will send men to Babylon to make her clean and get her land cleared: for in the day of trouble they will put up their tents against her on every side. ^51:3Against her the bow of the archer is bent, and he puts on his coat of metal: have no mercy on her young men, give all her army up to the curse. ^51:4And the dead will be stretched out in the land of the Chaldaeans, and the wounded in her streets. ^51:5For Israel has not been given up, or Judah, by his God, by the Lord of armies; for their land is full of sin against the Holy One of Israel. ^51:6Go in flight out of Babylon, so that every man may keep his life; do not be cut off in her evil-doing: for it is the time of the Lord's punishment; he will give her her reward. ^51:7Babylon has been a gold cup in the hand of the Lord, which has made all the earth overcome with wine: the nations have taken of her wine, and for this cause the nations have gone off their heads. ^51:8Sudden is the downfall of Babylon and her destruction: make cries of grief for her; take sweet oil for her pain, if it is possible for her to be made well. ^51:9We would have made Babylon well, but she is not made well: give her up, and let us go everyone to his country: for her punishment is stretching up to heaven, and lifted up even to the skies. ^51:10The Lord has made clear our righteousness: come, and let us give an account in Zion of the work of the Lord our God. ^51:11Make bright the arrows; take up the body-covers: the Lord has been moving the spirit of the king of the Medes; because his design against Babylon is its destruction: for it is the punishment from the Lord, the payment for his Temple. ^51:12Let the flag be lifted up against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, put the watchmen in their places, make ready a surprise attack: for it is the Lord's purpose, and he has done what he said about the people of Babylon. ^51:13O you whose living-place is by the wide waters, whose stores are great, your end is come, your evil profit is ended. ^51:14The Lord of armies has taken an oath by himself, saying, Truly, I will make you full with men as with locusts, and their voices will be loud against you. ^51:15He has made the earth by his power, he has made the world strong in its place by his wisdom, and by his wise design the heavens have been stretched out: ^51:16At the sound of his voice there is a massing of the waters in the heavens, and he makes the mists go up from the ends of the earth; he makes the thunder-flames for the rain and sends out the wind from his store-houses. ^51:17Then every man becomes like a beast without knowledge; every gold-worker is put to shame by the image he has made: for his metal image is deceit, and there is no breath in them. ^51:18They are nothing, a work of error: in the time of their punishment, destruction will overtake them. ^51:19The heritage of Jacob is not like these; for the maker of all things is his heritage: the Lord of armies is his name. ^51:20You are my fighting axe and my instrument of war: with you the nations will be broken; with you kingdoms will be broken; ^51:21With you the horse and the horseman will be broken; with you the war-carriage and he who goes in it will be broken; ^51:22With you man and woman will be broken; with you the old man and the boy will be broken; with you the young man and the virgin will be broken; ^51:23With you the keeper of sheep with his flock will be broken, and with you the farmer and his oxen will be broken, and with you captains and rulers will be broken. ^51:24And I will give to Babylon, and to all the people of Chaldaea, their reward for all the evil they have done in Zion before your eyes, says the Lord. ^51:25See, I am against you, says the Lord, O mountain of destruction, causing the destruction of all the earth: and my hand will be stretched out on you, rolling you down from the rocks, and making you a burned mountain. ^51:26And they will not take from you a stone for the angle of a wall or the base of a building; but you will be a waste place for ever, says the Lord. ^51:27Let a flag be lifted up in the land, let the horn be sounded among the nations, make the nations ready against her; get the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz together against her, make ready a scribe against her; let the horses come up against her like massed locusts. ^51:28Make the nations ready for war against her, the king of the Medes and his rulers and all his captains, and all the land under his rule. ^51:29And the land is shaking and in pain: for the purposes of the Lord are fixed, to make the land of Babylon an unpeopled waste. ^51:30Babylon's men of war have kept back from the fight, waiting in their strong places; their strength has given way, they have become like women: her houses have been put on fire, her locks are broken. ^51:31One man, running, will give word to another, and one who goes with news will be handing it on to another, to give word to the king of Babylon that his town has been taken from every quarter: ^51:32And the ways across the river have been taken, and the water-holes ... burned with fire, and the men of war are in the grip of fear. ^51:33For these are the words of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a grain-floor when it is stamped down; before long, the time of her grain-cutting will come. ^51:34Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, has made a meal of me, violently crushing me, he has made me a vessel with nothing in it, he has taken me in his mouth like a dragon, he has made his stomach full with my delicate flesh, crushing me with his teeth. ^51:35May the violent things done to me, and my downfall, come on Babylon, the daughter of Zion will say; and, May my blood be on the people of Chaldaea, Jerusalem will say. ^51:36For this reason the Lord has said: See, I will give support to your cause, and take payment for what you have undergone; I will make her sea dry, and her fountain without water. ^51:37And Babylon will become a mass of broken walls, a hole for jackals, a cause of wonder and surprise, without a living man in it. ^51:38They will be crying out together like lions, their voices will be like the voices of young lions. ^51:39When they are heated, I will make a feast for them, and overcome them with wine, so that they may become unconscious, sleeping an eternal sleep without awaking, says the Lord. ^51:40I will make them go down to death like lambs, like he-goats together. ^51:41How is Babylon taken! and the praise of all the earth surprised! how has Babylon become a cause of wonder among the nations! ^51:42The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered with the mass of its waves. ^51:43Her towns have become a waste, a dry and unwatered land, where no man has his living-place and no son of man goes by. ^51:44And I will send punishment on Bel in Babylon, and take out of his mouth what went into it; no longer will the nations be flowing together to him: truly, the wall of Babylon will come down. ^51:45My people, go out from her, and let every man get away safe from the burning wrath of the Lord. ^51:46So that your hearts may not become feeble and full of fear because of the news which will go about in the land; for a story will go about one year, and after that in another year another story, and violent acts in the land, ruler against ruler. ^51:47For this cause, truly, the days are coming when I will send punishment on the images of Babylon, and all her land will be shamed, and her dead will be falling down in her. ^51:48And the heaven and the earth and everything in them, will make a song of joy over Babylon: for those who make her waste will come from the north, says the Lord. ^51:49As Babylon had the dead of Israel put to the sword, so in Babylon the dead of all the land will be stretched out. ^51:50You who have got away safe from the sword, go, waiting for nothing; have the Lord in memory when you are far away, and keep Jerusalem in mind. ^51:51We are shamed because bitter words have come to our ears; our faces are covered with shame: for men from strange lands have come into the holy places of the Lord's house. ^51:52For this reason, see, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will send punishment on her images; and through all her land the wounded will be crying out in pain. ^51:53Even if Babylon was lifted up to heaven, even if she had the high places of her strength shut in with walls, still I would send against her those who will make her waste, says the Lord. ^51:54There is the sound of a cry from Babylon, and of a great destruction from the land of the Chaldaeans: ^51:55For the Lord is making Babylon waste, and putting an end to the great voice coming out of her; and her waves are thundering like great waters, their voice is sounding loud: ^51:56For the waster has come on her, even on Babylon, and her men of war are taken, their bows are broken: for the Lord is a rewarding God, and he will certainly give payment. ^51:57And I will make her chiefs and her wise men, her rulers and her captains and her men of war, overcome with wine; their sleep will be an eternal sleep without awaking, says the King; the Lord of armies is his name. ^51:58The Lord of armies has said: The wide walls of Babylon will be completely uncovered and her high doorways will be burned with fire; so peoples keep on working for nothing, and the weariness of nations comes to an end in the smoke. ^51:59The order which Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, to Babylon in the fourth year of his rule. Now Seraiah was the chief controller of the house. ^51:60And Jeremiah put in a book all the evil which was to come on Babylon. ^51:61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, see that you give them all these words; ^51:62And after reading them, say, O Lord, you have said about this place that it is to be cut off, so that no one will be living in it, not a man or a beast, but it will be unpeopled for ever. ^51:63And it will be that, when you have come to an end of reading this book, you are to have a stone fixed to it, and have it dropped into the Euphrates: ^51:64And you are to say, So Babylon will go down, never to be lifted up again, because of the evil which I will send on her: and weariness will overcome them. So far, these are the words of Jeremiah.

^52:1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king; he was king for eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ^52:2And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done. ^52:3And because of the wrath of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had sent them away from before him: and Zedekiah took up arms against the king of Babylon. ^52:4And in the ninth year of his rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came against Jerusalem with all his army and took up his position before it, building earthworks all round it. ^52:5So the town was shut in by their forces till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ^52:6In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the store of food in the town was almost gone, so that there was no food for the people of the land. ^52:7Then an opening was made in the wall of the town, and all the men of war went in flight out of the town by night through the doorway between the two walls which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldaeans were stationed round the town:) and they went by the way of the Arabah. ^52:8And the Chaldaean army went after King Zedekiah and overtook him on the other side of Jericho, and all his army went in flight from him in every direction. ^52:9Then they made the king a prisoner and took him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath to be judged. ^52:10And the king of Babylon put the sons of Zedekiah to death before his eyes: and he put to death all the rulers of Judah in Riblah. ^52:11And he put out Zedekiah's eyes; and the king of Babylon, chaining him in iron bands, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. ^52:12Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, a servant of the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. ^52:13And he had the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned with fire: ^52:14And the walls round Jerusalem were broken down by the Chaldaean army which was with the captain. ^52:15Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away as prisoners the rest of the people who were still in the town, and those who had given themselves up to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the workmen. ^52:16But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, let the poorest of the land go on living there, to take care of the vines and the fields. ^52:17And the brass pillars which were in the house of the Lord, and the wheeled bases and the great brass water-vessel in the house of the Lord, were broken up by the Chaldaeans, who took all the brass away to Babylon. ^52:18And the pots and the spades and the scissors for the lights and the spoons, and all the brass vessels used in the Lord's house, they took away. ^52:19And the cups and the fire-trays and the basins and the pots and the supports for the lights and the spoons and the wide basins; the gold of the gold vessels, and the silver of the silver vessels, the captain of the armed men took away. ^52:20The two pillars, the great water-vessel, and the twelve brass oxen which were under it, and the ten wheeled bases, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight. ^52:21And as for the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high, and twelve cubits measured all round, and it was as thick as a man's hand: it was hollow. ^52:22And there was a crown of brass on it: the crown was five cubits high, circled with a network and apples all of brass; and the second pillar had the same. ^52:23There were ninety-six apples on the outside; the number of apples all round the network was a hundred. ^52:24And the captain of the armed men took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three door-keepers; ^52:25And from the town he took the unsexed servant who was over the men of war, and seven of the king's near friends who were in the town, and the scribe of the captain of the army, who was responsible for getting the people of the land together in military order, and sixty men of the people of the land who were in the town. ^52:26These Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took with him to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ^52:27And the king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken prisoner away from his land. ^52:28These are the people whom Nebuchadrezzar took away prisoner: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews: ^52:29And in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he took away as prisoners from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons: ^52:30In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away as prisoners seven hundred and forty-five of the Jews: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred. ^52:31And in the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin, king of Judah, had been taken prisoner, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the first year after he became king, took Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison. ^52:32And he said kind words to him and put his seat higher than the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ^52:33And his prison clothing was changed, and he was a guest at the king's table every day for the rest of his life. ^52:34And for his food, the king gave him a regular amount every day till the day of his death, for the rest of his life.

Lamentations

^1:1See her seated by herself, the town which was full of people! She who was great among the nations has become like a widow! She who was a princess among the countries has come under the yoke of forced work! ^1:2She is sorrowing bitterly in the night, and her face is wet with weeping; among all her lovers she has no comforter: all her friends have been false to her, they have become her haters. ^1:3Judah has been taken away as a prisoner because of trouble and hard work; her living-place is among the nations, there is no rest for her: all her attackers have overtaken her in a narrow place. ^1:4The ways of Zion are sad, because no one comes to the holy meeting; all her doorways are made waste, her priests are breathing out sorrow: her virgins are troubled, and it is bitter for her. ^1:5Those who are against her have become the head, everything goes well for her haters; for the Lord has sent sorrow on her because of the great number of her sins: her young children have gone away as prisoners before the attacker. ^1:6And all her glory has gone from the daughter of Zion: her rulers have become like harts with no place for food, and they have gone in flight without strength before the attacker. ^1:7Jerusalem keeps in mind, in the days of her sorrow and of her wanderings, all the desired things which were hers in days gone by; when her people came into the power of her hater and she had no helper, her attackers saw their desire effected on her and made sport of her destruction. ^1:8Great is the sin of Jerusalem; for this cause she has become an unclean thing: all those who gave her honour are looking down on her, because they have seen her shame: now truly, breathing out grief, she is turned back. ^1:9In her skirts were her unclean ways; she gave no thought to her end; and her fall has been a wonder; she has no comforter: see her sorrow, O Lord; for the attacker is lifted up. ^1:10The hand of her hater is stretched out over all her desired things; for she has seen that the nations have come into her holy place, about whom you gave orders that they were not to come into the meeting of your people. ^1:11Breathing out grief all her people are looking for bread; they have given their desired things for food to give them life: see, O Lord, and take note; for she has become a thing of shame. ^1:12Come to me, all you who go by! Keep your eyes on me, and see if there is any pain like the pain of my wound, which the Lord has sent on me in the day of his burning wrath. ^1:13From on high he has sent fire into my bones, and it has overcome them: his net is stretched out for my feet, I am turned back by him; he has made me waste and feeble all the day. ^1:14A watch is kept on my sins; they are joined together by his hand, they have come on to my neck; he has made my strength give way: the Lord has given me up into the hands of those against whom I have no power. ^1:15The Lord has made sport of all my men of war in me, he has got men together against me to send destruction on my young men: the virgin daughter of Judah has been crushed like grapes under the feet of the Lord. ^1:16For these things I am weeping; my eye is streaming with water; because the comforter who might give me new life is far from me: my children are made waste, because the hater is strong. ^1:17Zion's hands are outstretched; she has no comforter; the Lord has given orders to the attackers of Jacob round about him: Jerusalem has become like an unclean thing among them. ^1:18The Lord is upright; for I have gone against his orders: give ear, now, all you peoples, and see my pain, my virgins and my young men have gone away as prisoners. ^1:19I sent for my lovers, but they were false to me: my priests and my responsible men were breathing their last breath in the town, while they were looking for food to give them new life. ^1:20See, O Lord, for I am in trouble; the inmost parts of my body are deeply moved; my heart is turned in me; for I have been uncontrolled: outside the children are put to the sword, and in the house there is death. ^1:21Give ear to the voice of my grief; I have no comforter; all my haters have news of my troubles, they are glad because you have done it: let the day of fate come when they will be like me. ^1:22Let all their evil-doing come before you; do to them as you have done to me for all my sins: for loud is the sound of my grief, and the strength of my heart is gone.

^2:1How has the daughter of Zion been covered with a cloud by the Lord in his wrath! he has sent down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel, and has not kept in memory the resting-place of his feet in the day of his wrath. ^2:2The Lord has given up to destruction all the living-places of Jacob without pity; pulling down in his wrath the strong places of the daughter of Judah, stretching out on the earth the wounded, even her king and her rulers. ^2:3In his burning wrath every horn of Israel has been cut off; his right hand has been turned back before the attacker: he has put a fire in Jacob, causing destruction round about. ^2:4His bow has been bent for the attack, he has taken his place with his hand ready, in his hate he has put to death all who were pleasing to the eye: on the tent of the daughter of Zion he has let loose his passion like fire. ^2:5The Lord has become like one fighting against her, sending destruction on Israel; he has sent destruction on all her great houses, making waste his strong places: increasing the grief and the sorrow of the daughter of Judah. ^2:6And he has violently taken away his tent, as from a garden; he has made waste his meeting-place: the Lord has taken away the memory of feast and Sabbath in Zion, and in the passion of his wrath he is against king and priest. ^2:7The Lord has given up his altar and has been turned in hate from his holy place; he has given up into the hands of the attacker the walls of her great houses: their voices have been loud in the house of the Lord as in the day of a holy meeting. ^2:8It is the Lord's purpose to make waste the wall of the daughter of Zion; his line has been stretched out, he has not kept back his hand from destruction: he has sent sorrow on tower and wall, they have become feeble together. ^2:9Her doors have gone down into the earth; he has sent destruction on her locks: her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not; even her prophets have had no vision from the Lord. ^2:10The responsible men of the daughter of Zion are seated on the earth without a word; they have put dust on their heads, they are clothed in haircloth: the heads of the virgins of Jerusalem are bent down to the earth. ^2:11My eyes are wasted with weeping, the inmost parts of my body are deeply moved, my inner parts are drained out on the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because of the young children and babies at the breast who are falling without strength in the open squares of the town. ^2:12They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? when they are falling like the wounded in the open squares of the town, when their life is drained out on their mother's breast. ^2:13What example am I to give you? what comparison am I to make for you, O daughter of Jerusalem? what am I to make equal to you, so that I may give you comfort, O virgin daughter of Zion? for your destruction is great like the sea: who is able to make you well? ^2:14The visions which your prophets have seen for you are false and foolish; they have not made clear to you your sin so that your fate might be changed: but they have seen for you false words, driving you away. ^2:15All who go by make a noise with their hands at you; they make hisses, shaking their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, and saying, Is this the town which was the crown of everything beautiful, the joy of all the earth? ^2:16All your haters are opening their mouths wide against you; making hisses and whistling through their teeth, they say, We have made a meal of her: certainly this is the day we have been looking for; it has come, we have seen it. ^2:17The Lord has done that which was his purpose; he has put into force the orders which he gave in the days which are past; pulling down without pity, he has made your hater glad over you, lifting up the horn of those who were against you. ^2:18Let your cry go up to the Lord: O wall of the daughter of Zion, let your weeping be flowing down like a stream day and night; give yourself no rest, let not your eyes keep back the drops of sorrow. ^2:19Up! give cries in the night, at the starting of the night-watches; let your heart be flowing out like water before the face of the Lord, lifting up your hands to him for the life of your young children who are falling down, feeble for need of food, at the top of every street. ^2:20Look! O Lord, see to whom you have done this! Are the women to take as their food the fruit of their bodies, the children who are folded in their arms? are the priest and the prophet to be put to death in the holy place of the Lord? ^2:21The young men and the old are stretched on the earth in the streets; my virgins and my young men have been put to the sword: you have sent death on them in the day of your wrath, causing death without pity. ^2:22As in the day of a holy meeting you have made fears come round me on every side, and no one got away or was kept safe in the day of the Lord's wrath: those who were folded in my arms, whom I took care of, have been sent to their destruction by my hater.

^3:1I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath. ^3:2By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light. ^3:3Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day. ^3:4My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken. ^3:5He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow. ^3:6He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead. ^3:7He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain. ^3:8Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out. ^3:9He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted. ^3:10He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places. ^3:11By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste. ^3:12With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows. ^3:13He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body. ^3:14I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day. ^3:15He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure. ^3:16By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust. ^3:17My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good. ^3:18And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord. ^3:19Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison. ^3:20My soul still keeps the memory of them; and is bent down in me. ^3:21This I keep in mind, and because of this I have hope. ^3:22It is through the Lord's love that we have not come to destruction, because his mercies have no limit. ^3:23They are new every morning; great is your good faith. ^3:24I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him. ^3:25The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him. ^3:26It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord. ^3:27It is good for a man to undergo the yoke when he is young. ^3:28Let him be seated by himself, saying nothing, because he has put it on him. ^3:29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope. ^3:30Let his face be turned to him who gives him blows; let him be full of shame. ^3:31For the Lord does not give a man up for ever. ^3:32For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love. ^3:33For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men. ^3:34In a man's crushing under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, ^3:35In his turning away the right of a man before the face of the Most High. ^3:36In his doing wrong to a man in his cause, the Lord has no pleasure. ^3:37Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord? ^3:38Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High? ^3:39What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin? ^3:40Let us make search and put our ways to the test, turning again to the Lord; ^3:41Lifting up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens. ^3:42We have done wrong and gone against your law; we have not had your forgiveness. ^3:43Covering yourself with wrath you have gone after us, cutting us off without pity; ^3:44Covering yourself with a cloud, so that prayer may not get through. ^3:45You have made us like waste and that for which there is no use, among the peoples. ^3:46The mouths of all our haters are open wide against us. ^3:47Fear and deep waters have come on us, wasting and destruction. ^3:48Rivers of water are running down from my eyes, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. ^3:49My eyes are streaming without stopping, they have no rest, ^3:50Till the Lord's eye is turned on me, till he sees my trouble from heaven. ^3:51The Lord is unkind to my soul, more than all the daughters of my town. ^3:52They who are against me without cause have gone hard after me as if I was a bird; ^3:53They have put an end to my life in the prison, stoning me with stones. ^3:54Waters were flowing over my head; I said, I am cut off. ^3:55I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison. ^3:56My voice came to you; let not your ear be shut to my breathing, to my cry. ^3:57You came near in the day when I made my prayer to you: you said, Have no fear. ^3:58O Lord, you have taken up the cause of my soul, you have made my life safe. ^3:59O Lord, you have seen my wrong; be judge in my cause. ^3:60You have seen all the evil rewards they have sent on me, and all their designs against me. ^3:61Their bitter words have come to your ears, O Lord, and all their designs against me; ^3:62The lips of those who came up against me, and their thoughts against me all the day. ^3:63Take note of them when they are seated, and when they get up; I am their song. ^3:64You will give them their reward, O Lord, answering to the work of their hands. ^3:65You will let their hearts be covered over with your curse on them. ^3:66You will go after them in wrath, and put an end to them from under the heavens of the Lord.

^4:1How dark has the gold become! how changed the best gold! the stones of the holy place are dropping out at the top of every street. ^4:2The valued sons of Zion, whose price was the best gold, are looked on as vessels of earth, the work of the hands of the potter! ^4:3Even the beasts of the waste land have full breasts, they give milk to their young ones: the daughter of my people has become cruel like the ostriches in the waste land. ^4:4The tongue of the child at the breast is fixed to the roof of his mouth for need of drink: the young children are crying out for bread, and no man gives it to them. ^4:5Those who were used to feasting on delicate food are wasted in the streets: those who as children were dressed in purple are stretched out on the dust. ^4:6For the punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overturned suddenly without any hand falling on her. ^4:7Her holy ones were cleaner than snow, they were whiter than milk, their bodies were redder than corals, their form was as the sapphire: ^4:8Their face is blacker than night; in the streets no one has knowledge of them: their skin is hanging on their bones, they are dry, they have become like wood. ^4:9Those who have been put to the sword are better off than those whose death is caused by need of food; for these come to death slowly, burned up like the fruit of the field. ^4:10The hands of kind-hearted women have been boiling their children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. ^4:11The Lord has given full effect to his passion, he has let loose his burning wrath; he has made a fire in Zion, causing the destruction of its bases. ^4:12To the kings of the earth and to all the people of the world it did not seem possible that the attackers and the haters would go into the doors of Jerusalem. ^4:13It is because of the sins of her prophets and the evil-doing of her priests, by whom the blood of the upright has been drained out in her. ^4:14They are wandering like blind men in the streets, they are made unclean with blood, so that their robes may not be touched by men. ^4:15Away! unclean! they were crying out to them, Away! away! let there be no touching: when they went away in flight and wandering, men said among the nations, There is no further resting-place for them. ^4:16The face of the Lord has sent them in all directions; he will no longer take care of them: they had no respect for the priests, they gave no honour to the old men. ^4:17Our eyes are still wasting away in looking for our false help: we have been watching for a nation unable to give salvation. ^4:18They go after our steps so that we may not go in our streets: our end is near, our days are numbered; for our end has come. ^4:19Those who went after us were quicker than the eagles of the heaven, driving us before them on the mountains, waiting secretly for us in the waste land. ^4:20Our breath of life, he on whom the holy oil was put, was taken in their holes; of whom we said, Under his shade we will be living among the nations. ^4:21Have joy and be glad, O daughter of Edom, living in the land of Uz: the cup will be given to you in your turn, and you will be overcome with wine and your shame will be seen. ^4:22The punishment of your evil-doing is complete, O daughter of Zion; never again will he take you away as a prisoner: he will give you the reward of your evil-doing, O daughter of Edom; he will let your sin be uncovered.

^5:1Keep in mind, O Lord, what has come to us: take note and see our shame. ^5:2Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen. ^5:3We are children without fathers, our mothers are like widows. ^5:4We give money for a drink of water, we get our wood for a price. ^5:5Our attackers are on our necks: overcome with weariness, we have no rest. ^5:6We have given our hands to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians so that we might have enough bread. ^5:7Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us. ^5:8Servants are ruling over us, and there is no one to make us free from their hands. ^5:9We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land. ^5:10Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food. ^5:11They took by force the women in Zion, the virgins in the towns of Judah. ^5:12Their hands put princes to death by hanging: the faces of old men were not honoured. ^5:13The young men were crushing the grain, and the boys were falling under the wood. ^5:14The old men are no longer seated in the doorway, and the music of the young men has come to an end. ^5:15The joy of our hearts is ended; our dancing is changed into sorrow. ^5:16The crown has been taken from our head: sorrow is ours, for we are sinners. ^5:17Because of this our hearts are feeble; for these things our eyes are dark; ^5:18Because of the mountain of Zion which is a waste; jackals go over it. ^5:19You, O Lord, are seated as King for ever; the seat of your power is eternal. ^5:20Why have we gone from your memory for ever? why have you been turned away from us for so long? ^5:21Make us come back to you, O Lord, and let us be turned; make our days new again as in the past. ^5:22But you have quite given us up; you are full of wrath against us.

Ezekiel

^1:1Now it came about in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, while I was by the river Chebar among those who had been made prisoners, that the heavens were made open and I saw visions of God. ^1:2On the fifth day of the month, in the fifth year after King Jehoiachin had been made a prisoner, ^1:3The word of the Lord came to me, Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldaeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was on me there. ^1:4And, looking, I saw a storm-wind coming out of the north, a great cloud with flames of fire coming after one another, and a bright light shining round about it and in the heart of it was something coloured like electrum. ^1:5And in the heart of it were the forms of four living beings. And this was what they were like; they had the form of a man. ^1:6And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings. ^1:7And their feet were straight feet; and the under sides of their feet were like the feet of oxen; and they were shining like polished brass. ^1:8And they had the hands of a man under their wings; the four of them had faces on their four sides. ^1:9They went without turning, every one went straight forward. ^1:10As for the form of their faces, they had the face of a man, and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side, and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four of them had the face of an eagle. ^1:11And their wings were separate at the top; two of the wings of every one were joined one to another, and two were covering their bodies. ^1:12Every one of them went straight forward; wherever the spirit was to go they went; they went on without turning. ^1:13And between the living beings it was like burning coals of fire, as if flames were going one after the other between the living beings; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went thunder-flames. ^1:14And the living beings went out and came back as quickly as a thunder-flame. ^1:15Now while I was looking at the four living beings, I saw one wheel on the earth, by the side of the living beings, for the four of them. ^1:16The form of the wheels and their work was like a beryl; the four of them had the same form and design, and they were like a wheel inside a wheel. ^1:17The four of them went straight forward without turning to one side. ^1:18And I saw that they had edges, and their edges, even of the four, were full of eyes round about. ^1:19And when the living beings went on, the wheels went by their side; and when the living beings were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. ^1:20Wherever the spirit was to go they went; and the wheels were lifted up by their side: for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. ^1:21When these went on, the others went; and when these came to rest, the others came to rest; and when these were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up by their side: for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. ^1:22And over the heads of the living beings there was the form of an arch, looking like ice, stretched out over their heads on high. ^1:23Under the arch their wings were straight, one stretched out to another: every one had two wings covering their bodies on this side and two covering their bodies on that side. ^1:24And when they went, the sound of their wings was like the sound of great waters to my ears, like the voice of the Ruler of all, a sound like the rushing of an army: when they came to rest they let down their wings. ^1:25And there was a voice from the top of the arch which was over their heads: when they came to rest they let down their wings. ^1:26And on the top of the arch which was over their heads was the form of a king's seat, like a sapphire stone; and on the form of the seat was the form of a man seated on it on high. ^1:27And I saw it coloured like electrum, with the look of fire in it and round it, going up from what seemed to be the middle of his body; and going down from what seemed to be the middle of his body I saw what was like fire, and there was a bright light shining round him. ^1:28Like the bow in the cloud on a day of rain, so was the light shining round him. And this is what the glory of the Lord was like. And when I saw it I went down on my face, and the voice of one talking came to my ears.

^2:1And he said to me, Son of man, get up on your feet, so that I may say words to you. ^2:2And at his words the spirit came into me and put me on my feet; and his voice came to my ears. ^2:3And he said to me, Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to an uncontrolled nation which has gone against me: they and their fathers have been sinners against me even to this very day. ^2:4And the children are hard and stiff-hearted; I am sending you to them: and you are to say to them, These are the words of the Lord. ^2:5And they, if they give ear to you or if they do not give ear (for they are an uncontrolled people), will see that there has been a prophet among them. ^2:6And you, son of man, have no fear of them or of their words, even if sharp thorns are round you and you are living among scorpions: have no fear of their words and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people. ^2:7And you are to give them my words, if they give ear to you or if they do not: for they are uncontrolled. ^2:8But you, son of man, give ear to what I say to you, and do not be uncontrolled like that uncontrolled people: let your mouth be open and take what I give you. ^2:9And looking, I saw a hand stretched out to me, and I saw the roll of a book in it; ^2:10And he put it open before me, and it had writing on the front and on the back; words of grief and sorrow and trouble were recorded in it.

^3:1And he said to me, Son of man, take this roll for your food, and go and say my words to the children of Israel. ^3:2And, on my opening my mouth, he made me take the roll as food. ^3:3And he said to me, Son of man, let your stomach make a meal of it and let your inside be full of this roll which I am giving you. Then I took it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. ^3:4And he said to me, Son of man, go now to the children of Israel, and say my words to them. ^3:5For you are not sent to a people whose talk is strange and whose language is hard, but to the children of Israel; ^3:6Not to a number of peoples whose talk is strange and whose language is hard and whose words are not clear to you. Truly, if I sent you to them they would give ear to you. ^3:7But the children of Israel will not give ear to you; for they have no mind to give ear to me: for all the children of Israel have a hard brow and a stiff heart. ^3:8See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your brow hard against their brows. ^3:9Like a diamond harder than rock I have made your brow: have no fear of them and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people. ^3:10Then he said to me, Son of man, take into your heart all my words which I am about to say to you, and let your ears be open to them. ^3:11And go now to those who have been taken away as prisoners, to the children of your people, and say to them, This is what the Lord has said; if they give ear or if they do not. ^3:12Then I was lifted up by the wind, and at my back the sound of a great rushing came to my ears when the glory of the Lord was lifted up from his place. ^3:13And there was the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another, and the sound of the wheels at their side, the sound of a great rushing. ^3:14And the wind, lifting me up, took me away: and I went in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong on me. ^3:15Then I came to those who had been taken away as prisoners, who were at Telabib by the river Chebar, and I was seated among them full of wonder for seven days. ^3:16And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^3:17Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the children of Israel: so give ear to the word of my mouth, and give them word from me of their danger. ^3:18When I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly be your fate; and you give him no word of it and say nothing to make clear to the evil-doer the danger of his evil way, so that he may be safe; that same evil man will come to death in his evil-doing; but I will make you responsible for his blood. ^3:19But if you give the evil-doer word of his danger, and he is not turned from his sin or from his evil way, death will overtake him in his evil-doing; but your life will be safe. ^3:20Again, when an upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, and I put a cause of falling in his way, death will overtake him: because you have given him no word of his danger, death will overtake him in his evil-doing, and there will be no memory of the upright acts which he has done; but I will make you responsible for his blood. ^3:21But if you say to the upright man that he is not to do evil, he will certainly keep his life because he took note of your word; and your life will be safe. ^3:22And the hand of the Lord was on me there; and he said, Get up and go out into the valley and there I will have talk with you. ^3:23Then I got up and went out into the valley; and I saw the glory of the Lord resting there as I had seen it by the river Chebar; and I went down on my face. ^3:24Then the spirit came into me and put me on my feet; and he had talk with me and said to me, Go and keep yourself shut up inside your house. ^3:25But see, O son of man, I will put bands on you, prisoning you in them, and you will not go out among them: ^3:26And I will make your tongue fixed to the roof of your mouth, so that you have no voice and may not make protests to them: for they are an uncontrolled people. ^3:27But when I have talk with you I will make your mouth open, and you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Let the hearer give ear; and as for him who will not, let him keep his ears shut: for they are an uncontrolled people.

^4:1And you, son of man, take a back and put it before you and on it make a picture of a town, even Jerusalem. ^4:2And make an attack on it, shutting it in, building strong places against it, and making high an earthwork against it; and put up tents against it, placing engines all round it for smashing down its walls. ^4:3And take a flat iron plate, and put it for a wall of iron between you and the town: and let your face be turned to it, and it will be shut in and you will make an attack on it. This will be a sign to the children of Israel. ^4:4Then, stretching yourself out on your left side, take the sin of the children of Israel on yourself: for as long as you are stretched out, so long will the sin of the children of Israel be on you. ^4:5For I have had the years of their sin measured for you by a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: and you will take on yourself the sin of the children of Israel. ^4:6And when these days are ended, turning on your right side, you are to take on yourself the sin of the children of Judah: forty days, a day for a year, I have had it fixed for you. ^4:7And let your face be turned to where Jerusalem is shut in, with your arm uncovered, and be a prophet against it. ^4:8And see, I will put bands on you; and you will be stretched out without turning from one side to the other till the days of your attack are ended. ^4:9And take for yourself wheat and barley and different sorts of grain, and put them in one vessel and make bread for yourself from them; all the days when you are stretched on your side it will be your food. ^4:10And you are to take your food by weight, twenty shekels a day: you are to take it at regular times. ^4:11And you are to take water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: you are to take it at regular times. ^4:12And let your food be barley cakes, cooking it before their eyes with the waste which comes out of a man. ^4:13And the Lord said, Even so the children of Israel will have unclean bread for their food among the nations where I am driving them. ^4:14Then I said, Ah, Lord! see, my soul has never been unclean, and I have never taken as my food anything which has come to a natural death or has been broken by beasts, from the time when I was young even till now; no disgusting flesh has ever come into my mouth. ^4:15Then he said to me, See, I have given you cow's waste in place of man's waste, and you will make your bread ready on it. ^4:16And he said to me, Son of man, see, I will take away from Jerusalem her necessary bread: they will take their bread by weight and with care, measuring out their drinking-water with fear and wonder: ^4:17So that they may be in need of bread and water and be wondering at one another, wasting away in their sin.

^5:1And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, using it like a haircutter's blade, and making it go over your head and the hair of your chin: and take scales for separating the hair by weight. ^5:2You are to have a third part burned with fire inside the town, when the days of the attack are ended; and a third part you are to take and give blows with the sword round about it; and give a third part for the wind to take away, and let loose a sword after them. ^5:3And take from them a small number of hairs, folding them in your skirts. ^5:4And again take some of these and put them in the fire, burning them up in the fire; and say to all the children of Israel, ^5:5This is what the Lord has said: This is Jerusalem: I have put her among the nations, and countries are round her on every side; ^5:6And she has gone against my orders by doing evil more than the nations, and against my rules more than the countries round her: for they have given up my orders, and as for my rules, they have not gone in the way of them. ^5:7For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have been more uncontrolled than the nations round about you, and have not been guided by my rules or kept my orders, but have kept the orders of the nations round about you; ^5:8For this cause the Lord has said: See, I, even I, am against you; and I will be judging among you before the eyes of the nations. ^5:9And I will do in you what I have not done and will not do again, because of all your disgusting ways. ^5:10For this cause fathers will take their sons for food among you, and sons will make a meal of their fathers; and I will be judge among you, and all the rest of you I will send away to every wind. ^5:11For this cause, by my life, says the Lord, because you have made my holy place unclean with all your hated things and all your disgusting ways, you will become disgusting to me; my eye will have no mercy and I will have no pity. ^5:12A third of you will come to death from disease, wasting away among you through need of food; a third will be put to the sword round about you; and a third I will send away to every wind, letting loose a sword after them. ^5:13So my wrath will be complete and my passion will come to rest on them; and they will be certain that I the Lord have given the word of decision, when my wrath against them is complete. ^5:14And I will make you a waste and a name of shame among the nations round about you, in the eyes of everyone who goes by. ^5:15And you will be a name of shame and a cause of bitter words, an example and a wonder to the nations round about you, when I give effect to my judging among you in wrath and in passion and in burning protests: I the Lord have said it: ^5:16When I send on you the evil arrows of disease, causing destruction, which I will send to put an end to you; and, further, I will take away your necessary food. ^5:17And I will send on you need of food and evil beasts, and they will be a cause of loss to you; and disease and violent death will go through you; and I will send the sword on you: I the Lord have said it.

^6:1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^6:2Son of man, let your face be turned to the mountains of Israel, and be a prophet to them, and say, ^6:3You mountains of Israel, give ear to the words of the Lord: this is what the Lord has said to the mountains and the hills, to the waterways and the valleys: See, I, even I, am sending on you a sword for the destruction of your high places. ^6:4And your altars will be made waste, and your sun-images will be broken: and I will have your dead men placed before your images. ^6:5And I will put the dead bodies of the children of Israel in front of their images, sending your bones in all directions about your altars. ^6:6In all your living-places the towns will become broken walls, and the high places made waste; so that your altars may be broken down and made waste, and your images broken and ended, and so that your sun-images may be cut down and your works rubbed out. ^6:7And the dead will be falling down among you, and you will be certain that I am the Lord. ^6:8But still, I will keep a small band safe from the sword among the nations, when you are sent wandering among the countries. ^6:9And those of you who are kept safe will have me in mind among the nations where they have been taken away as prisoners, how I sent punishment on their hearts which were untrue to me, and on their eyes which were turned to their false gods: and they will be full of hate for themselves because of the evil things which they have done in all their disgusting ways. ^6:10And they will be certain that I am the Lord: not for nothing did I say that I would do this evil to them. ^6:11This is what the Lord has said: Give blows with your hand, stamping with your foot, and say, O sorrow! because of all the evil and disgusting ways of the children of Israel: for death will overtake them by the sword and through need of food and by disease. ^6:12He who is far away will come to his death by disease; he who is near will be put to the sword; he who is shut up will come to his death through need of food; and I will give full effect to my passion against them. ^6:13And you will be certain that I am the Lord, when their dead men are stretched among their images round about their altars on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every branching tree, and under every thick oak-tree, the places where they made sweet smells to all their images. ^6:14And my hand will be stretched out against them, making the land waste and unpeopled, from the waste land to Riblah, through all their living-places: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

^7:1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^7:2And you, son of man, say, This is what the Lord has said to the land of Israel: An end has come, the end has come on the four quarters of the land. ^7:3Now the end has come on you, and I will send my wrath on you, judging you for your ways, I will send punishment on you for all your disgusting acts. ^7:4My eye will not have mercy on you, and I will have no pity: but I will send the punishment of your ways on you, and your disgusting works will be among you: and you will be certain that I am the Lord. ^7:5This is what the Lord has said: An evil, even one evil; see, it is coming. ^7:6An end has come, the end has come; see, it is coming on you. ^7:7The crowning time has come on you, O people of the land: the time has come, the day is near; the day will not be slow in coming, it will not keep back. ^7:8Now, in a little time, I will let loose my passion on you, and give full effect to my wrath against you, judging you for your ways, and sending punishment on you for all your disgusting works. ^7:9My eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity: I will send on you the punishment of your ways, and your disgusting works will be among you; and you will see that I am the Lord who gives punishment. ^7:10See, the day; see, it is coming: the crowning time has gone out; the twisted way is flowering, pride has put out buds. ^7:11Violent behaviour has been lifted up into a rod of evil; it will not be slow in coming, it will not keep back. ^7:12The time has come, the day is near: let not him who gives a price for goods be glad, or him who gets the price have sorrow: ^7:13For the trader will not go back to the things for which he had his price, even while he is still living: ^7:14And he who has given a price for goods will not get them, for my wrath is on all of them. ^7:15Outside is the sword, and inside disease and need of food: he who is in the open country will be put to the sword; he who is in the town will come to his end through need of food and disease. ^7:16And those of them who get away safely will go and be in the secret places like the doves of the valleys, all of them will come to death, every one in his sin. ^7:17All hands will be feeble and all knees without strength, like water. ^7:18And they will put haircloth round them, and deep fear will be covering them; and shame will be on all faces, and the hair gone from all their heads. ^7:19They will put out their silver into the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to keep them safe in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they will not get their desire or have food for their need: because it has been the cause of their falling into sin. ^7:20As for their beautiful ornament, they had put it on high, and had made the images of their disgusting and hated things in it: for this cause I have made it an unclean thing to them. ^7:21And I will give it into the hands of men from strange lands who will take it by force, and to the evil-doers of the earth to have for themselves; and they will make it unholy. ^7:22And my face will be turned away from them, and they will make my secret place unholy: violent men will go into it and make it unholy. ^7:23Make the chain: for the land is full of crimes of blood, and the town is full of violent acts. ^7:24For this reason I will send the worst of the nations and they will take their houses for themselves: I will make the pride of their strength come to an end; and their holy places will be made unclean. ^7:25Shaking fear is coming; and they will be looking for peace, and there will be no peace. ^7:26Destruction will come on destruction, and one story after another; and the vision of the prophet will be shamed, and knowledge of the law will come to an end among the priests, and wisdom among the old. ^7:27The king will give himself up to sorrow, and the ruler will be clothed with wonder, and the hands of the people of the land will be troubled: I will give them punishment for their ways, judging them as it is right for them to be judged; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

^8:1Now in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in my house and the responsible men of Judah were seated before me, the hand of the Lord came on me there. ^8:2And looking, I saw a form like fire; from the middle of his body and down there was fire: and up from the middle of his body a sort of shining, like electrum. ^8:3And he put out the form of a hand and took me by the hair of my head; and the wind, lifting me up between the earth and the heaven, took me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the way into the inner door facing to the north; where was the seat of the image of envy. ^8:4And I saw the glory of the Lord there, as in the vision which I saw in the valley. ^8:5Then he said to me, Son of man, now let your eyes be lifted up in the direction of the north; and on looking in the direction of the north, to the north of the doorway of the altar, I saw this image of envy by the way in. ^8:6And he said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? even the very disgusting things which the children of Israel are doing here, causing me to go far away from my holy place? but you will see other most disgusting things. ^8:7And he took me to the door of the open place; and looking, I saw a hole in the wall. ^8:8And he said to me, Son of man, make a hole in the wall: and after making a hole in the wall I saw a door. ^8:9And he said to me, Go in and see the evil and disgusting things which they are doing here. ^8:10So I went in and saw; and there every sort of living thing which goes flat on the earth, and unclean beasts, and all the images of the children of Israel, were pictured round about on the wall. ^8:11And before them seventy of the responsible men of the children of Israel had taken their places, every man with a vessel for burning perfumes in his hand, and in the middle of them was Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan; and a cloud of smoke went up from the burning perfume. ^8:12And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the responsible men of the children of Israel do in the dark, every man in his room of pictured images? for they say, The Lord does not see us; the Lord has gone away from the land. ^8:13Then he said to me, You will see even more disgusting things which they do. ^8:14Then he took me to the door of the way into the Lord's house looking to the north; and there women were seated weeping for Tammuz. ^8:15Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? you will see even more disgusting things than these. ^8:16And he took me into the inner square of the Lord's house, and at the door of the Temple of the Lord, between the covered way and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs turned to the Temple of the Lord and their faces turned to the east; and they were worshipping the sun, turning to the east. ^8:17Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? is it a small thing to the children of Judah that they do the disgusting things which they are doing here? for they have made the land full of violent behaviour, making me angry again and again: and see, they put the branch to my nose. ^8:18For this reason I will let loose my wrath: my eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity.