You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away; the wind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the Lord; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

Yes, your land lies in ruins; it is desolate and devastated. ¹  But now you will be too small to hold your residents, and those who devoured you will be far away.

Your children faint; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a snare. They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger, by the battle cry of your God. ¹ 

Their webs cannot be used for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are sinful; they commit violent crimes. ¹ 

Our holy temple, our pride and joy, ¹  the place where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire; all our prized possessions have been destroyed. ² 

Sharon ¹  will become a pasture for sheep, and the Valley of Achor ²  a place where cattle graze; ³  they will belong to my people, who seek me. ⁴ 

And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike. ¹  I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,’ ²  says the Lord.”

As your words came to me I drank them in, ¹  and they filled my heart with joy and happiness because I belong to you. ² 

So their land will become an object of horror. ¹  People will forever hiss out their scorn over it. All who pass that way will be filled with horror and will shake their heads in derision. ² 

I will make this city an object of horror, a thing to be hissed at. All who pass by it will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn ¹  because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ² 

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 

For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ¹  ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you ²  a future filled with hope. ³ 

This will happen because ¹  the people of this city have aroused my anger and my wrath since the time they built it until now. ²  They have made me so angry that I am determined to remove ³  it from my sight.

“Moab has vaunted itself against me. So make him drunk with the wine of my wrath ¹  until he splashes ²  around in his own vomit, until others treat him as a laughingstock.

After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. ¹  It will be totally desolate. All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ² 

Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord’s hand. She had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. ¹  So they have all gone mad. ² 

He plucked off its topmost shoot; he brought it to a land of merchants and planted it in a city of traders.

Its boughs were strong, fit ¹  for rulers’ scepters; it reached up into the clouds. It stood out because of its height and its many branches. ² 

I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices ¹  – they caused all their first born to pass through the fire ²  – so that I would devastate them, so that they will know that I am the Lord.’ ³ 

Those both near and far from you will mock you, you with your bad reputation, ¹  full of turmoil.