Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon. Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time. ¹  Let all the foreigners return to their own people. Let them hurry back to their own lands to escape destruction by that enemy army. ² 

I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword ¹  and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

“Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I were to kill both people and animals.

“Or suppose I were to send a plague into that land, and pour out my rage on it with bloodshed, killing both people and animals.

As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; ¹  you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets. ² 

He took one from the royal family, ¹  made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. ²  He then took the leaders of the land

Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ¹  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people.

and say to them, ¹  ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, ²  I am against you. ³  I will draw my sword ⁴  from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. ⁵ 

Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone ¹  from the south ²  to the north.

So this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note, I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines. I will kill ¹  the Cherethites ²  and destroy those who remain on the seacoast.

“‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will kill ¹  every person and every animal.

“‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and will rid the land of wild beasts, so that they can live securely ¹  in the wilderness and even sleep in the woods. ² 

I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be a perpetual covenant with them. ¹  I will establish them, ²  increase their numbers, and place my sanctuary among them forever.

They enthroned kings without my consent! ¹  They appointed princes without my approval! ²  They made idols out of their silver and gold, but they will be destroyed! ³ 

Ephraim continually feeds on the wind; he chases the east wind all day; he multiplies lies and violence. They make treaties ¹  with Assyria, and send olive oil as tribute ²  to Egypt.

I will break the bar ¹  on the gate of Damascus. I will remove ²  the ruler ³  from Wicked Valley, ⁴  the one who holds the royal scepter from Beth Eden. ⁵  The people of Aram will be deported to Kir.” ⁶  The Lord has spoken!

I will remove ¹  the ruler ²  from Ashdod, ³  the one who holds the royal scepter from Ashkelon. ⁴  I will strike Ekron ⁵  with my hand; ⁶  the rest of the Philistines will also die.” ⁷  The sovereign Lord has spoken!

The Lord has issued a decree against you: ¹  “Your dynasty will come to an end. ²  I will destroy the idols and images in the temples of your gods. I will desecrate ³  your grave – because you are accursed!” ⁴ 

“I destroyed ¹  nations; their walled cities ²  are in ruins. I turned their streets into ruins; no one passes through them. Their cities are desolate; ³  no one lives there. ⁴ 

I thought, ¹  ‘Certainly you will respect ²  me! Now you will accept correction!’ If she had done so, her home ³  would not be destroyed ⁴  by all the punishments I have threatened. ⁵  But they eagerly sinned in everything they did. ⁶