ה (He) Her foes subjugated her; ¹  her enemies are at ease. ²  For the Lord afflicted her because of her many acts of rebellion. ³  Her children went away captive ⁴  before the enemy.

צ (Tsade) The Lord is right to judge me! ¹  Yes, I rebelled against his commands. ²  Please listen, all you nations, ³  and look at my suffering! My young women and men have gone into exile.

ט (Tet) Her city gates have fallen ¹  to the ground; he smashed to bits ²  the bars that lock her gates. ³  Her king and princes were taken into exile; ⁴  there is no more guidance available. ⁵  As for her prophets, they no longer receive ⁶  a vision from the Lord.

ס (Samek) People cry to them, “Turn away! You are unclean! Turn away! Turn away! Don’t touch us!” So they have fled and wander about; but the nations say, ¹  “They may not stay here any longer.”

Bring out your belongings packed for exile during the day while they are watching. And go out at evening, while they are watching, as if for exile.

“They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. ¹  For them you bathed, ²  painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry.

and come from your place, from the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a vast army.

I will turn you around and drag you along; ¹  I will lead you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel.

it is you, ¹  O king! For you have become great and strong. Your greatness is such that it reaches to heaven, and your authority to the ends of the earth.

I will sell your sons and daughters to ¹  the people of Judah. ²  They will sell them to the Sabeans, ³  a nation far away. Indeed, the Lord has spoken!

I will bring back my people, Israel; ¹  they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ²  and settle down. ³  They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ⁴  they will grow orchards ⁵  and eat the fruit they produce. ⁶ 

You should not ¹  have gloated ²  when your relatives ³  suffered calamity. ⁴  You should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah when they were destroyed. ⁵  You should not have boasted ⁶  when they suffered adversity. ⁷ 

Shave your heads bald as you mourn for the children you love; ¹  shave your foreheads as bald ²  as an eagle, ³  for they are taken from you into exile.

In that day people ¹  will come to you ²  from Assyria as far as ³  Egypt, from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River, ⁴  from the seacoasts ⁵  and the mountains. ⁶ 

Their horses are faster than leopards and more alert ¹  than wolves in the desert. ²  Their horses ³  gallop, ⁴  their horses come a great distance; like a vulture ⁵  they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. ⁶ 

The Lord will terrify them, ¹  for ²  he will weaken ³  all the gods of the earth. All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ⁴ 

I will overthrow royal thrones and shatter the might of earthly kingdoms. ¹  I will overthrow chariots and those who ride them, and horses and their riders will fall as people kill one another. ² 

‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful ¹  land a waste.”

He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart ¹  is far from me.

I punished ¹  them often in all the synagogues ²  and tried to force ³  them to blaspheme. Because I was so furiously enraged ⁴  at them, I went to persecute ⁵  them even in foreign cities.