The Beloved to the Maidens: I admonish you, O maidens ¹  of Jerusalem: “Do not ²  arouse or awaken love until it pleases!”

How tragic that the once-faithful city has become a prostitute! ¹  She was once a center of ²  justice, fairness resided in her, but now only murderers. ³ 

But where, oh where, are your wise men? ¹  Let them tell you, let them find out what the Lord who commands armies has planned for Egypt.

O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, ¹  what I have heard from the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel, I have reported to you.

Has the Lord struck down Israel like he did their oppressors? ¹  Has Israel been killed like their enemies? ² 

Tremble, you complacent ones! Shake with fear, you carefree ones! Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves – put sackcloth on your waist! ¹ 

The Lord is about to deliver me, ¹  and we will celebrate with music ²  for the rest of our lives in the Lord’s temple.” ³ 

I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud, the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. ¹  Come back to me, for I protect ²  you.”

For the Lord judges all humanity ¹  with fire and his sword; the Lord will kill many. ² 

“Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil ¹  so that you may yet be delivered. How long will you continue to harbor up wicked schemes within you?

And I cried out, ¹  “We are doomed! ²  Our wound is severe! We once thought, ‘This is only an illness. And we will be able to bear it!’ ³ 

For he did not kill me before I came from the womb, making my pregnant mother’s womb my grave forever. ¹ 

Why did I ever come forth from my mother’s womb? All I experience is trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame. ¹ 

Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, ¹  you dear poor people of Egypt. ²  But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; ³  there will be no healing for you.

Set up a gravestone for Moab, for it will certainly be laid in ruins! ¹  Its cities will be laid waste and become uninhabited.”

“Take up your battle positions all around Babylon, all you soldiers who are armed with bows. ¹  Shoot ²  all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! ³  For she has sinned against the Lord.

As I watched, I saw ¹  on the platform ²  above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the shape of a throne, appearing above them.

The ships of Tarshish ¹  were the transports for your merchandise. “‘So you were filled and weighed down in the heart of the seas.

The traders among the peoples hiss at you; you have become a horror, and will be no more.’”

Then a wind ¹  lifted me up and brought me to the inner court; I watched ²  the glory of the Lord filling the temple. ³