For the palace will be abandoned; the bustling city will be deserted; the citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, a delight of wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
Therefore thus says Adonai concerning the king of Assyria: “He will not come to the city, or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or throw up a siege-ramp against it.
Then the angel of Adonai went out and struck down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When the men arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
If I go out into the field, see, those slain by the sword! And if I enter into the city, see, the sick with famine! For both prophet and kohen will travel to a land they do not know.
thus says Adonai: “He that remains in this city will die by the sword, by famine, and by plague, but anyone who goes out to the Chaldeans will live—so he will keep his life like the spoils of war, and will live.”
How lonely sits the city, once so full of people! She who was once great among the nations has become like a widow. The princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer.
Look, Adonai, and consider with whom You have dealt so severely! Should women eat their offspring, their healthy newborn infants? Should kohen and prophet be slain in the Sanctuary of the Lord?
This is the exultant city, dwelling securely, saying in her heart, ‘It’s me--no one else but me!’ How did she become a ruin, an abode for wild beasts? Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.