I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them.

Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.’ ¹ 

Be distressed, ¹  farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished.

Isaac’s centers of worship ¹  will become desolate; Israel’s holy places will be in ruins. I will attack Jeroboam’s dynasty with the sword.” ² 

I will strike you brutally ¹  and destroy you because of your sin.

Everyone who sees you will turn away from you in disgust; they will say, ‘Nineveh has been devastated! Who will lament for her?’ There will be no one to comfort you!” ¹ 

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 

If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.

Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. ¹  Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it. ² 

So I, the Lord, affirm that ¹  I will send for all the peoples of the north ²  and my servant, ³  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy ⁴  this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it ⁵  and make them everlasting ruins. ⁶  I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn. ⁷ 

So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing ¹  the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. ²  This ³  man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” ⁴ 

therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, and to the desolate ruins and the abandoned cities that have become prey and an object of derision to the rest of the nations round about –

Listen attentively, ¹  my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins ²  and the city called by your name. ³  For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, ⁴  but because your compassion is abundant.

This is how the once-proud city will end up ¹  – the city that was so secure. ²  She thought to herself, ³  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ⁴  What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live! Everyone who passes by her taunts her ⁵  and shakes his fist. ⁶ 

God saw the earth, and indeed ¹  it was ruined, ²  for all living creatures ³  on the earth were sinful. ⁴ 

You must not round off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your beard. ¹ 

The Israelites said to Moses, “We are bound to die! ¹  We perish, we all perish!

This sin caused Jeroboam’s dynasty ¹  to come to an end and to be destroyed from the face of the earth.

His children are far ¹  from safety, and they are crushed ²  at the place where judgment is rendered, ³  nor is there anyone to deliver them. ⁴ 

he wanders about – food for vultures; ¹  he knows that the day of darkness is at hand. ²