It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.
But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of howling creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there.
The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, says the LORD of hosts.
And, behold, here comes a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he has broken to the ground.
Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up its towers, they raised up its palaces; and he brought it to ruin.
Yet the fortified city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and strip its branches.
Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;
Have you not heard long ago, how I have done it; and from ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that you should lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
And you shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of its street, and shall burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof, unto the LORD your God: and it shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again.
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, in which were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her wealth! for in one hour is she made desolate.