Yes, ¹  the Lord has this to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: “Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground, you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning; just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted, you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives. ² 

I looked and saw that the fruitful land had become a desert and that all of the cities had been laid in ruins. The Lord had brought this all about because of his blazing anger. ¹ 

The Lord said, ¹  “I will make Jerusalem ²  a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. ³  I will destroy the towns of Judah so that no one will be able to live in them.”

A destructive army ¹  will come marching over the hilltops in the desert. For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon ²  against ³  everyone from one end of the land to the other. No one will be safe. ⁴ 

They will be like a shrub ¹  in the desert. They will not experience good things even when they happen. It will be as though they were growing in the desert, in a salt land where no one can live.

You and your people ¹  are saying that this land will become desolate, uninhabited by either people or animals. You are saying that it will be handed over to the Babylonians. ²  But fields ³  will again be bought in this land. ⁴ 

The destroyer will come against every town. Not one town will escape. The towns in the valley will be destroyed. The cities on the high plain will be laid waste. ¹  I, the Lord, have spoken! ² 

But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born ¹  will be disgraced. Indeed, ²  Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert.

The earth will tremble and writhe in agony. ¹  For the Lord will carry out his plan. He plans to make the land of Babylonia ²  a wasteland where no one lives. ³ 

ג (Gimel) Even the jackals ¹  nurse their young at their breast, ²  but my people ³  are cruel, like ostriches ⁴  in the desert.

נ (Nun) They ¹  wander blindly ²  through the streets, defiled by the blood they shed, ³  while no one dares ⁴  to touch their garments.

ע (Ayin) Our eyes continually failed us as we looked in vain for help. ¹  From our watchtowers we watched for a nation that could not rescue us.

And you must eat the food like you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement.” ¹ 

“‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” ¹ 

And with all your abominable practices and prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood.

Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you ¹  have become slag, look out! – I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. ² 

Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, ¹  I will soon gather them together for judgment. ²  Then ³  they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king. ⁴ 

I will strike you brutally ¹  and destroy you because of your sin.

The mountains tremble before him, ¹  the hills convulse; ²  the earth is laid waste ³  before him, the world and all its inhabitants ⁴  are laid waste. ⁵ 

For the Lord will restore ¹  the majesty ²  of Jacob, as well as ³  the majesty of Israel, though ⁴  their enemies have plundered them ⁵  and have destroyed their fields. ⁶