‘Go down and sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter Chaldea! For you will no longer be called pampered and spoilt.
For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Daughter Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.
They grasp bow and javelin. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, lined up like men in battle formation against you, Daughter Babylon.
Come down from glory; sit on parched ground, resident of the daughter of Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses.
this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: Virgin Daughter Zion despises you and scorns you; Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.
As much as she glorified herself and indulged her sensual and excessive ways, give her that much torment and grief. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never see grief.’
Your heart became proud because of your beauty; For the sake of your splendour you corrupted your wisdom. So I threw you down to the ground; I made you a spectacle before kings.
All the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble continually, and be appalled at you.
Both young and old are lying on the ground in the streets. My young women and young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without compassion.
The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
For he has humbled those who live in lofty places – an inaccessible city. He brings it down; he brings it down to the ground; he throws it to the dust.
He said, ‘You will not celebrate any more, ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus – even there you will have no rest! ’
I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overturn chariots and their riders. Horses and their riders will fall, each by his brother’s sword.
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its foundations at the wrath of the Lord of Armies, on the day of his burning anger.
For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again. He will settle them on their own land. The resident foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.