“Therefore, I, Yahweh, say: Behold! I am bringing calamity upon them from which they will not be able to escape. And they will cry to me, but I will pay no attention.
Her gates have collapsed to the ground; he has wrecked and shattered their bars. Her king and leaders are captives among the gentiles, and instruction from the Torah scrolls is no more. Her prophets, too, receive no vision from Yahweh.
May cries be heard from their homes as you suddenly bring raiders upon them without warning. For they’ve dug a pit to catch me and hidden snares for my feet.
How much longer will the land mourn? How much longer must the birds and animals perish? Even the grass of every field withers because of the wickedness of these people! For the people boast, “God doesn’t see what happens to us.”
The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is disgraced and withered. The fields of Sharon are like a desert. The lands of Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
My heart cries out for the people of Moab, for her fugitives who flee to Zoar and to Eglath-shelishiyah. Weeping, they climb the upward road to Luhith. Their loud cries of anguish are heard all along the way to Horonaim.
For Israel is this vineyard of Yahweh, the Commander of Angel Armies, and the people of Judah are the garden of his delight. When he waited for a crop of justice, he got a harvest of bloodshed! When he waited to reap fairness, he heard only the cries of victims.
The nations have heard of your humiliation; all the world has heard your scream. For your warriors stumble over each other. No one escapes with his life.”
Yahweh was determined to destroy the walls of beloved Zion. As builders draw a straight line to build a wall, he stretched out the line of judgment to break down her walls. He caused her walls and towers to mourn, as they tumbled to the ground.