So I went to Perath and dug up ¹  the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found ²  that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.

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.

So he said to me, “All right then, I will substitute cow’s manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it.”

“‘This is because they have led my people astray saying, “All is well,” ¹  when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, ²  they coat it with whitewash.

He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note ¹  – he gave his promise ²  and did all these things – he will not escape!

“But suppose he in turn has a son who notices all the sins his father commits, considers them, and does not follow his father’s example. ¹ 

As for his father, because he practices extortion, robs his brother, and does what is not good among his people, he will die for his iniquity.

On that day messengers will go out from me in ships to frighten overly confident Ethiopia; panic will overtake them on the day of Egypt’s doom; ¹  for beware – it is coming!

Realize ¹  that to them you are like a sensual song, a beautiful voice and skilled musician. ²  They hear your words, but they do not obey them. ³ 

As I watched, I saw ¹  tendons on them, then muscles appeared, ²  and skin covered over them from above, but there was no breath ³  in them.

Then he brought me to the outer court. I saw ¹  chambers there, and a pavement made for the court all around; thirty chambers faced the pavement.

For the chambers on the outer court were 87½ feet ¹  long, while those facing the temple were 175 feet ²  long.

Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. As I watched, I noticed ¹  the glory of the Lord filling the Lord’s temple, and I threw myself face down.

“You, O king, were watching as a great statue – one ¹  of impressive size and extraordinary brightness – was standing before you. Its appearance caused alarm.

He answered, “But I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!” ¹ 

However, the prince of the kingdom of Persia was opposing me for twenty-one days. But ¹  Michael, one of the leading princes, came to help me, because I was left there ²  with the kings of Persia.

The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: ¹  “Certainly the time is approaching ²  when you will be carried away ³  in baskets, ⁴  every last one of you ⁵  in fishermen’s pots. ⁶ 

Look, I am about to empower ¹  the Babylonians, that ruthless ²  and greedy ³  nation. They sweep across the surface ⁴  of the earth, seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

The riders then agreed with the angel of the Lord, ¹  who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have been walking about on the earth, and now everything is at rest and quiet.”

Then he cried out to me, “Look! The ones going to the northland have brought me ¹  peace about the northland.” ²