I will make you a bare rock. You will be a place by the sea for spreading fishing nets! You won’t be built again. Why? Because I, the Lord, have spoken!” The Lord my Master said those things.
The Lord says,\par “Virgin Daughter of Sidon, {\cf2\super [225]} \par you will be destroyed.\par You will not rejoice any more.”\par \{But the people of Tyre say,\}\par “Cyprus {\cf2\super [226]} will help us!”\par But if you cross the sea to Cyprus,\par you will not find a place to rest.\par
Nebuchadnezzar’s men will take away your riches. They will take the things you wanted to sell. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. They will throw your stones and wood \{houses\} into the sea like garbage.
I will make the Nile River become dry land.\par Then I will sell the dry land to evil people.\par I will use strangers to make that land empty.\par I, the Lord, have spoken!”\par
You can see fishermen standing by the river all the way from En Gedi to En Eglaim. You can see them throwing their fishing nets and catching many kinds of fish. There are as many kinds of fish in the Dead Sea as there are in the Mediterranean Sea.
Only then will I stop being angry at your people. I will know that they have been punished for the bad things they did to me. And they will know that I am the Lord, and that I spoke to them because of my strong love {\cf2\super [45]} for them!”
Why? Because there won’t be enough food and water for the people. People will be terrified of each other—they will see each other wasting away because of their sins.
God is not a man;
he will not lie.
God is not a human being;
his decisions will not change.
If the Lord says he will do something,
then he will do it.
If the Lord makes a promise,
then he will do the thing he promised.
Then you must gather all the valuable things and take them to the center of the city and burn the city and everything in it. It will be a burnt offering to the Lord your God. The city must become an empty pile of rocks forever. That city must never be built again.