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.

“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ¹  I am about to deliver you over to ²  those whom you hate, to those with whom you were disgusted.

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.

Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you – though you are a man and not a god – when you are in the power of those who wound you?

“Son of man, sing ¹  a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘You were the sealer ²  of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, ¹  and you sinned; so I defiled you and banished you ²  from the mountain of God – the guardian cherub expelled you ³  from the midst of the stones of fire.

Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor. I threw you down to the ground; I placed you before kings, that they might see you.

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.

“‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers ¹  or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. ²  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them.

They will no longer be prey for the nations and the wild beasts will not devour them. They will live securely and no one will make them afraid.

Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will not leave any of them in exile ¹  any longer.

Next to the border of Gad, at the south side, the border will run from Tamar to the waters of Meribath Kadesh, to the Stream of Egypt ¹  and on to the Great Sea.

While these words were still on the king’s lips, ¹  a voice came down from heaven: “It is hereby announced to you, ²  King Nebuchadnezzar, that your kingdom has been removed from you!

“This is the conclusion of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts troubled me greatly, and the color drained from my face. ¹  But I kept the matter to myself.” ² 

Then the king of the north ¹  will return to his own land with much property. His mind will be set against the holy covenant. He will take action, and then return to his own land.

Yet ¹  until now ²  she has refused to acknowledge ³  that I ⁴  was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and that it was I who ⁵  lavished on her the silver and gold – which they ⁶  used in worshiping Baal! ⁷ 

(3:1) ¹  After all of this ²  I will pour out my Spirit ³  on all kinds of people. ⁴  Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; ⁵  your young men will see prophetic visions.

They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral; they do so right ¹  beside every altar! They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied; they do so right in the temple ²  of their God! ³ 

but you rise up as an enemy against my people. ¹  You steal a robe from a friend, ²  from those who pass by peacefully as if returning from a war. ³