For thus said יהוה of hosts, “Cut down her trees, and cast up a siege mound against Yerushalayim. She is the city to be punished, in whose midst there is only oppression.
How alone she sits, The city once great with people! Like a widow she has become, One great among the nations! A princess among provinces has become a slave!
“And your name went out among the nations because of your loveliness, for it was perfect, by My splendour which I had put on you,” declares the Master יהוה.
“And take again some of them, and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From it a fire shall spread unto all the house of Yisra’ĕ
“And you shall guard and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes of the peoples who hear all these laws, and they shall say, ‘Only a wise and understanding people is this great nation!’