“Fall down! Sit in the dirt, O virgin ¹  daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, ²  you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.

Don’t be afraid, for you will not be put to shame! Don’t be intimidated, ¹  for you will not be humiliated! You will forget about the shame you experienced in your youth; you will no longer remember the disgrace of your abandonment. ² 

No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, ¹  or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, ²  for my people will live as long as trees, ³  and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. ⁴ 

You must no longer say that the Lord’s message is burdensome. ¹  For what is ‘burdensome’ ²  really pertains to what a person himself says. ³  You are misrepresenting ⁴  the words of our God, the living God, the Lord who rules over all. ⁵ 

They will not defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, and all their rebellious deeds. I will save them from all their unfaithfulness ¹  by which they sinned. I will purify them; they will become my people and I will become their God.

Because of all their evil in Gilgal, I hate them there. On account of their evil deeds, I will drive them out of my land. ¹  I will no longer love them; all their rulers are rebels.

The Lord has issued a decree against you: ¹  “Your dynasty will come to an end. ²  I will destroy the idols and images in the temples of your gods. I will desecrate ³  your grave – because you are accursed!” ⁴ 

A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, ¹  was sinking ²  into a deep sleep while Paul continued to speak ³  for a long time. Fast asleep, ⁴  he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

And the sound of the harpists, musicians, flute players, and trumpeters will never be heard in you ¹  again. No ²  craftsman ³  who practices any trade will ever be found in you again; the noise of a mill ⁴  will never be heard in you again.

Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again.

Then Saul stopped chasing the Philistines, and the Philistines went back home. ¹ 

I am presently eighty years old. Am I able to discern good and bad? Can I ¹  taste what I eat and drink? Am I still able to hear the voices of male and female singers? Why should I ²  continue to be a burden to my lord the king?

There ¹  the wicked ²  cease ³  from turmoil, ⁴  and there the weary ⁵  are at rest.

There ¹  the prisoners ²  relax ³  together; ⁴  they do not hear the voice of the oppressor. ⁵ 

But ¹  if you will look ²  to God, and make your supplication ³  to the Almighty,

Those who hate you ¹  will be clothed with shame, ²  and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

Before his time ¹  he will be paid in full, ²  and his branches will not flourish. ³ 

“They are dismayed ²  and cannot answer any more; they have nothing left to say. ³ 

For I am full of words, and the spirit within me ¹  constrains me. ² 

for the needy are not permanently ignored, ¹  the hopes of the oppressed are not forever dashed. ²