(the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth.

For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded ¹  city is abandoned. Hill ²  and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. ³  Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there. ⁴ 

So they approached the king and said to him, ¹  “Did you not issue an edict to the effect that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human other than to you, O king, would be thrown into a den of lions?” The king replied, “That is correct, ²  according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed.”

Her house is the way to the grave, ¹  going down ²  to the chambers ³  of death.

He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket; ¹  he lies in ambush, waiting to catch ²  the oppressed; he catches the oppressed ³  by pulling in his net. ⁴ 

The Lord said, ¹  “I will make Jerusalem ²  a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. ³  I will destroy the towns of Judah so that no one will be able to live in them.”

Listen! News is coming even now. ¹  The rumble of a great army is heard approaching ²  from a land in the north. ³  It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble, places where only jackals live.

Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky ¹  have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” ² 

Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky ¹  have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” ² 

Then ¹  the kings of the earth, the ²  very important people, the generals, ³  the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave ⁴  and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; ¹  you have covered us with darkness. ² 

Babylon will become a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. ¹  It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, a place where no one lives. ² 

Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses, jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. ¹  Her time is almost up, ²  her days will not be prolonged. ³ 

The Lord is like a lion who has left his lair. ¹  So their lands will certainly ²  be laid waste by the warfare of the oppressive nation ³  and by the fierce anger of the Lord.”

Pray ¹  that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea and that my ministry in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,

Like a lion that has come up from its lair ¹  the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. ²  He is coming out to lay your land waste. Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.

They will lick the dust like a snake, like serpents crawling on the ground. ¹  They will come trembling from their strongholds to the Lord our God; ²  they will be terrified ³  of you. ⁴ 

He ¹  shouted with a powerful voice: “Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great! She ²  has become a lair for demons, a haunt ³  for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detested beast. ⁴