Finally the Lord could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses. ¹ 

then I will bring you down to bygone people, ¹  to be with those who descend to the pit. I will make you live in the lower parts of the earth, among ²  the primeval ruins, with those who descend to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited or stand ³  in the land of the living.

to loot and plunder, to attack ¹  the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center ²  of the earth.”

All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces; all her metal cult statues will be destroyed by fire. ¹  I will make a waste heap ²  of all her images. Since ³  she gathered the metal ⁴  as a prostitute collects her wages, the idols will become a prostitute’s wages again.” ⁵ 

The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land, ¹  so he is to send the goat away ²  in the wilderness.

May death destroy them! ¹  May they go down alive into Sheol! ²  For evil is in their dwelling place and in their midst.

If the Lord who commands armies ¹  had not left us a few survivors, we would have quickly become like Sodom, ²  we would have become like Gomorrah.

Highways are empty, ¹  there are no travelers. ²  Treaties are broken, ³  witnesses are despised, ⁴  human life is treated with disrespect. ⁵ 

“O afflicted one, driven away, ¹  and unconsoled! Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli.

Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals. Their eyes are strained looking for food, because there is none to be found.” ¹ 

Moab will be destroyed. Its towns will be invaded. Its finest young men will be slaughtered. ¹  I, the King, the Lord who rules over all, ²  affirm it! ³ 

But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born ¹  will be disgraced. Indeed, ²  Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert.

“See how Babylon ¹  has been captured! See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations! ² 

The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins. She has become a dry and barren desert. No one lives in those towns any more. No one even passes through them. ¹ 

You who have escaped the sword, ¹  go, do not delay. ²  Remember the Lord in a faraway land. Think about Jerusalem. ³ 

“I will make you desolate and an object of scorn among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by.

Listen to the cattle groan! ¹  The herds of livestock wander around in confusion ²  because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

Indeed, ¹  Gaza will be deserted ²  and Ashkelon will become a heap of ruins. ³  Invaders will drive away the people of Ashdod by noon, ⁴  and Ekron will be overthrown. ⁵ 

“So when you see the abomination of desolation ¹  – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

Then ¹  Jesus ²  got up early in the morning when it was still very dark, departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there he spent time in prayer. ³