Justice is driven back; godliness ¹  stands far off. Indeed, ²  honesty stumbles in the city square and morality is not even able to enter.

He repays them for what they have done, dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries and punishing his enemies. ¹  He repays the coastlands. ² 

Like an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, ¹  so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest. In this way ²  you guided your people, gaining for yourself an honored reputation. ³ 

They will say, ¹  ‘Prepare to do battle ²  against it! Come on! Let’s attack it at noon!’ But later they will say, ³  ‘Oh, oh! Too bad! ⁴  The day is almost over and the shadows of evening are getting long.

So I went to Perath and dug up ¹  the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found ²  that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.

The Lord told me, ¹  “Tell the king and the queen mother, ‘Surrender your thrones, ²  for your glorious crowns will be removed ³  from your heads. ⁴ 

“The people of Judah are in mourning. The people in her cities are pining away. They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow. ¹  Cries of distress come up to me ²  from Jerusalem. ³ 

The Lord who rules over all ¹  says, ‘Disaster will soon come on one nation after another. ²  A mighty storm of military destruction ³  is rising up from the distant parts of the earth.’

The Lord affirms, ¹  “The descendants of Israel will not cease forever to be a nation in my sight. That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights were to cease to operate before me.” ² 

The city is sure to fall into the hands of the Babylonians. ¹  Yet, in spite of this, ²  you, Lord God, ³  have said to me, “Buy that field with silver and have the transaction legally witnessed.”’” ⁴ 

Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” ¹  But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah put Jeremiah under arrest and took him to the officials.

They had also heard him say, ¹  “The Lord says, ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon. They will capture it.’” ² 

Set up a gravestone for Moab, for it will certainly be laid in ruins! ¹  Its cities will be laid waste and become uninhabited.”

Her towns ¹  will be captured. Her fortresses will be taken. At that time the soldiers of Moab will be frightened like a woman in labor. ² 

The people of Damascus will lose heart and turn to flee. Panic will grip them. Pain and anguish will seize them like a woman in labor.

I have opened up the place where my weapons are stored. ¹  I have brought out the weapons for carrying out my wrath. ²  For I, the Lord God who rules over all, ³  have work to carry out in the land of Babylonia. ⁴ 

The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear ¹  when he hears news of their coming. ²  Anguish will grip him, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³ 

“See how Babylon ¹  has been captured! See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations! ² 

Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgments ¹  I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.’” The prophecies of Jeremiah end here. ² 

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