The bronze top of one pillar was about seven and one-half feet ¹  high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate-shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its pomegranate-shaped ornaments was like it.

ו (Vav) All of Daughter Zion’s ¹  splendor ²  has departed. ³  Her leaders became like deer; they found no pasture, so they were too exhausted to escape ⁴  from the hunter. ⁵ 

ל (Lamed) Is it nothing to you, ¹  all you who pass by on the road? ²  Look and see! Is there any pain like mine? The Lord ³  has afflicted me, ⁴  he ⁵  has inflicted it on me when ⁶  he burned with anger. ⁷ 

ס (Samek) He rounded up ¹  all my mighty ones; ²  The Lord ³  did this ⁴  in ⁵  my midst. He summoned an assembly ⁶  against me to shatter my young men. The Lord has stomped like grapes ⁷  the virgin daughter, Judah. ⁸ 

פ (Pe) Zion spread out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob; his neighbors ¹  have become his enemies. Jerusalem has become like filthy garbage ²  in their midst. ³ 

ג (Gimel) In fierce anger ¹  he destroyed ²  the whole army ³  of Israel. He withdrew his right hand ⁴  as the enemy attacked. ⁵  He was like a raging fire in the land of Jacob; ⁶  it consumed everything around it. ⁷ 

ל (Lamed) Children ¹  say to their mothers, ²  “Where are food and drink?” ³  They faint ⁴  like a wounded warrior in the city squares. They die slowly ⁵  in their mothers’ arms. 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!

ר (Resh) Look, O Lord! Consider! ¹  Whom have you ever afflicted ²  like this? Should women eat their offspring, ³  their healthy infants? ⁴  Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s ⁵  sanctuary?

ח (Khet) Now their appearance ¹  is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark.

As I watched, I noticed ¹  a windstorm ²  coming from the north – an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing, ³  such that bright light ⁴  rimmed it and came from ⁵  it like glowing amber ⁶  from the middle of a fire.

When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings – it was like the sound of rushing waters, or the voice of the Almighty, ¹  or the tumult ²  of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, ¹  and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! ¹  Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, ²  for they are a rebellious house.”

So I got up and went out to the valley, and the glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, ¹  and I threw myself face down.

“Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest which I have provided as fuel for the fire – so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem ¹  as fuel. ² 

I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare.

When you built your chamber at the head of every street and put up your pavilion in every public square, you were not like a prostitute, because you scoffed at payment. ¹ 

“As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; ¹  say: “‘A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, ²  to flash like lightning –