Lament for Babylon

1“Come down and sit in the dust,

O virgin daughter of Babylon;

Sit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of the Chaldeans!

For you shall no longer be called tender and delicate.

2Take the millstones and grind flour.

Uncover your veil, strip off the skirt,

Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.

3Your nakedness will be uncovered;

Your reproach also will be seen;

I will take vengeance and will not [†]spare a man.”

4Our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is His name,

The Holy One of Israel.

5“Sit silently, and go into darkness,

O daughter of the Chaldeans,

For you will no longer be called

The queen of kingdoms.

6I was furious with My people;

I profaned My inheritance

And gave them into your hand.

You did not show compassion to them,

On the aged you made your yoke very heavy.

7Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’

These things you did not put on your heart

Nor remember the outcome of [†]them.

8“So now, hear this, you sensual one,

Who sits securely,

Who says in [†]your heart,

‘I am, and there is no one besides me.

I will not sit as a widow,

Nor know loss of children.’

9But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day:

Loss of children and widowhood.

They will come on you in full measure

In spite of your many sorceries,

In spite of the great might of your spells.

10You felt secure in your evil and said,

‘No one sees me,’

Your wisdom and your knowledge [†]have turned you astray;

So you have said in your heart,

‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’

11But evil will come on you

Which you will not know how to charm away;

And disaster will fall on you

For which you cannot atone;

And destruction about which you do not know

Will come on you suddenly.

12“Stand fast now in your spells

And in your many sorceries

With which you have labored from your youth;

Perhaps you will be able to profit;

Perhaps you may cause trembling.

13You are wearied with your many counsels;

Let now the astrologers,

Those who behold visions by the stars,

Those who predict by the new moons,

Stand up and save you from what will come upon you.

14Behold, they have become like stubble,

Fire burns them;

They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame;

There will be no coal to warm by

Nor a fire to sit before!

15Thus they have become for you, those among whom you have labored,

Who have traded with you from your youth;

Each has wandered in his own [†]way;

There is none to save you.