For the stars of the heavens and their constellations do not give off their light. The sun shall be dark at its rising, and the moon not send out its light.
“And I shall make it a possession for the porcupine, and marshes of muddy water; and shall sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares יהוה of hosts.
“And see this, a chariot of men coming with a pair of horsemen!” And he spoke up and said, “Baḇel is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her mighty ones He has broken to the ground.”
“Come down and sit in the dust, O maiden daughter of Baḇel. Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Kasdim! For no more do they call you tender and delicate.
And I shall banish from them the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
Why are we sitting still? Gather yourselves, and let us go into the walled cities, and let us be silent there. For יהוה our Elohim has let us perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against יהוה.
How 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!
The elders of the daughter of Tsiyon Sit on the ground, are silent. They have thrown dust on their heads, They have girded themselves with sackcloth. The maidens of Yerushalayim Have let their heads hang to the ground.
“As much as she esteemed herself and lived riotously, so much torture and grief give to her, because in her heart she says, ‘I sit as sovereigness, and I am not a widow, and I do not see mourning at all.’