And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the level of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish—he wipes it and turns it upside down.
Men will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground Before the dread of Yahweh And the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble.
For the fortified city is isolated, A haunt forlorn and forsaken like the desert; There the calf will graze, And there it will lie down and feed on its twigs.
You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
And every blow of the appointed staff, Which Yahweh will cause to rest upon him, Will be with the music of tambourines and lyres; And in battles, waving weapons He will fight them.
It will not be quenched night or day; Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation it will be laid waste; None will pass through it forever and ever.
For the indignation of Yahweh is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their hosts; He has devoted them to destruction; He has given them over to slaughter.
“A lion has gone up from his thicket, And a destroyer of nations has set out; He has gone out from his place To make your land a desolation. Your cities will be turned into ruins Without inhabitant.
Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go and strike down Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and not a man will know! Why should he strike down your life, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered and the remnant of Judah would perish?”
“Israel is a scattered flock; the lions have banished them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
¶“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and brought me into confusion; He has set me down like an empty vessel; He has swallowed me like a sea monster; He has filled his stomach with my delicacies; He has rinsed me away.
I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.”
“Then stand it empty on its coals So that it may be hot And its bronze may glow And its uncleanness may be melted in it, Its rust brought to a complete end.
One-third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city when the days of the siege are fulfilled. Then you shall take one-third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and one-third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.
So throughout all their habitations I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land more desolate and desecrated than the wilderness toward Diblah; thus they will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”
In all your places of habitation, cities will become waste, and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and desolate, your idols may be broken and cease, your incense altars may be cut in pieces, and your works may be blotted out.
She is emptied! Yes, she is emptied out and eviscerated! Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in all their loins, And all their faces turn pale!
and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
And when they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also;
Moreover, Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.