Your land is devastated, your cities burned with fire. Right before your eyes your crops are being destroyed by foreign invaders. ¹  They leave behind devastation and destruction. ² 

May the creditor seize ¹  all he owns! May strangers loot his property! ² 

lest strangers devour ¹  your strength, ²  and your labor ³  benefit ⁴  another man’s house.

¹ “Foreigners will take care of ²  your sheep; foreigners will work in your fields and vineyards.

“‘Adulterous wife, who prefers strangers instead of her own husband!

I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands. ¹  With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.’

like heat ¹  in a dry land, you humble the boasting foreigners. ²  Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, ³  so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. ⁴ 

Does the snow ever completely vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon? Do the cool waters from those distant mountains ever cease to flow? ¹ 

‘But I will take you out of the city. ¹  And I will hand you over to foreigners. I will execute judgments on you.

You will die the death of the uncircumcised ¹  by the hand of foreigners; for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

They have committed treason ¹  against the Lord, because they bore illegitimate children. Soon ²  the new moon festival will devour them and their fields.

For foreigners ¹  attack me; ²  ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. ³  (Selah)

Indeed, ¹  you have made the city ²  into a heap of rubble, the fortified town into a heap of ruins; the fortress of foreigners ³  is no longer a city, it will never be rebuilt.

Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. ¹  But you say, ‘It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods ²  and want to pursue them!’

When the time for them to be rescued comes,” ¹  says the Lord who rules over all, ²  “I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. ³  I will deliver you from captivity. ⁴  Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.

I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. ¹  They will winnow her and strip her land bare. ²  This will happen when ³  they come against her from every direction, when it is time to destroy her. ⁴ 

‘We ¹  are ashamed because we have been insulted. ²  Our faces show our disgrace. ³  For foreigners have invaded the holy rooms ⁴  in the Lord’s temple.’

I am about to bring foreigners ¹  against you, the most terrifying of nations. They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom, ²  and they will defile your splendor.

I will dry up the waterways and hand the land over to ¹  evil men. I will make the land and everything in it desolate by the hand of foreigners. I, the Lord, have spoken!

Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced, ¹  but he does not recognize it! His head is filled with gray hair, but he does not realize it!