I will punish the god Bel in Babylon. I will make him spit out what he has swallowed. The nations will not come streaming to him any longer. Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall.” ¹ 

Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky ¹  and fortifies her elevated stronghold, ²  I will send destroyers against her,” ³  says the Lord. ⁴ 

Each of the pillars was about 27 feet ¹  high, about 18 feet ²  in circumference, three inches ³  thick, and hollow.

ב (Bet) The Lord ¹  destroyed ²  mercilessly ³  all the homes of Jacob’s descendants. ⁴  In his anger he tore down the fortified cities ⁵  of Daughter Judah. He knocked to the ground and humiliated the kingdom and its rulers. ⁶ 

צ (Tsade) Cry out ¹  from your heart ²  to the Lord, ³  O wall of Daughter Zion! ⁴  Make your tears flow like a river all day and all night long! ⁵  Do not rest; do not let your tears ⁶  stop!

The sword is outside; pestilence and famine are inside the house. Whoever is in the open field will die by the sword, and famine and pestilence will consume everyone in the city.

You have not gone up in the breaks in the wall, nor repaired a wall for the house of Israel that it would stand strong in the battle on the day of the Lord.

One ¹  commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates ²  his sister – his father’s daughter ³  – within you.

Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ¹  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

I will send a plague into the city ¹  and bloodshed into its streets; the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ²  from every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

They will say, “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are now fortified and inhabited.”

He measured the gateway from the roof of one alcove to the roof of the other, a width of 43¾ feet ¹  from one entrance to the opposite one.

On the outside of the porch as one goes up at the entrance of the north gate were two tables, and on the other side of the porch of the gate were two tables.

The length of the porch was 35 feet ¹  and the width 19¼ feet; ²  steps ³  led up to it, and there were pillars beside the jambs on either side.

He measured it on all four sides. It had a wall around it, 875 feet long and 875 feet wide, to separate the holy and common places.

I went down ¹  to the very bottoms ²  of the mountains; ³  the gates ⁴  of the netherworld ⁵  barred me in ⁶  forever; ⁷  but you brought me ⁸  up from the Pit, ⁹  O Lord, my God.

Residents ¹  of Shaphir, ²  pass by in nakedness and humiliation! ³  The residents of Zaanan can’t leave their city. ⁴  Beth Ezel ⁵  mourns, ⁶  “He takes from you what he desires.” ⁷ 

Therefore, because of you, ¹  Zion will be plowed up like ²  a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount ³  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ⁴ 

“I destroyed ¹  nations; their walled cities ²  are in ruins. I turned their streets into ruins; no one passes through them. Their cities are desolate; ³  no one lives there. ⁴ 

“‘Therefore,’ says the Lord, ‘I have become compassionate ¹  toward Jerusalem ²  and will rebuild my temple ³  in it,’ says the Lord who rules over all. ‘Once more a surveyor’s measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’