- 1
- Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans;
for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
- 2
- Take the millstones, and grind meal;
remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.
- 3
- Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen;
I will take vengeance, and will let no man intercede.
- 4
- Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel.
- 5
- Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans;
for thou shalt no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.
- 6
- I was wroth with My people, I profaned Mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand;
thou didst show them no mercy;
upon the aged hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
- 7
- And thou saidst: "For ever shall I be mistress";
so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the end thereof.
- 8
- Now therefore hear this, thou that art given to pleasures, that sittest securely, that sayest in thy heart: "I am, and there is none else beside me;
I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children";
- 9
- But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widow-hood;
in their full measure shall they come upon thee, for the multitude of thy sorceries, and the great abundance of thine enchantments.
- 10
- And thou hast been secure in thy wickedness, thou hast said: "None seeth me";
thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee;
and thou hast said in thy heart.
"I am, and there is none else beside me."
- 11
- Yet shall evil came upon thee;
thou shalt not know how to charm it away;
and calamity shall fall upon thee;
thou shalt not be able to put it away;
and ruin shall come upon thee suddenly, before thou knowest.
- 12
- Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth;
if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
- 13
- Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels;
let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee.
- 14
- Behold, they shall be as stubble;
the fire shall burn them;
they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame;
it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before.
- 15
- Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured;
they that have trafficked with thee from thy youth shall wander every one to his quarter;
there shall be none to save thee.
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