For it is a day of tumult, and of trampling down, and of confusion, by the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, in the valley of vision; digging down a wall, and crying to the mountain.
And they said to him, So says Hezekiah, it is a day of distress, and of rebuke, and of contempt today; for the sons have come to the birth, and there is no power to bring forth.
The runners went out, being burned by the king’s word. And the decree was given in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink. But the city, Shushan, was perplexed.
I will send him against a godless nation, and on the people of My wrath. I will command him to plunder plunder, and to spoil spoil, and to appoint them a trampling like the mud of the streets.
And they said to him, So says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, and reproach, and contempt. For sons have come to the breach and there is no strength to give birth.
And now, please, I will make known to you what I will do to My vineyard. I will turn aside its hedge, and it will be burned. I will breach its wall, and it will become a trampling place.
I have trodden the winepress, I alone, and no man of the peoples was with Me. And I will tread them in My anger, and trample them in My fury; and their juice shall be spattered on My garments; and I will pollute all My clothes.
Her oppressive ones have become as chief; her enemies are at ease. For Jehovah has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. Her children have gone, captive before the oppressive ones.
The Lord swallowed up all of Jacob’s dwelling-places, and did not pity. In His wrath He has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He made them touch to the earth. He has defiled the kingdom and its rulers.
Jehovah devised to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched out a line. He has not turned back His hand from swallowing; and He made rampart and wall lament; they languish together.
And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars. And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us!
Their best is like a thorn; the upright one more than a hedge of thorns. The day of your watchers, your visitation is coming; now shall be their confusion.