⁵  Ki koh amar YHWH:
We have heard a voice of trembling,
of fear, v'ein shalom*.
⁶ 
Ask now, and see
whether a man can give birth.
Why do I see every man
with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail,
and all faces are turned into paleness?
⁷  Hoy! ki gadol ha-yom ha-hu,
so that none is like it.
It is even the time of Ya'akov's trouble,
but he shall be saved out of it.

¹⁰  Therefore don't be afraid, Ya'akov my eved, n'um YHWH.
Neither be dismayed, Yisra'el,
ki hinneh, I will save you from afar,
and your zera me-eretz of their captivity,
and Ya'akov shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
¹¹  For I am with you, n'um YHWH, to save you,
for I will make a full end of kol ha-goyim where I have scattered you,
but I will not destroy you completely;
but I will correct you in measure,
and will in no way leave you unpunished.

¹²  Ki koh amar YHWH,
Your hurt is incurable,
and your wound grievous.
¹³  There is none to plead your cause,
that you may be bound up.
You have no healing medicines.
¹⁴  All your lovers have forgotten you;
they don't seek you,
for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy,
with the chastisement of a cruel one,
for the greatness of your iniquity,
because your sins were increased.
¹⁵  Why do you cry for your hurt?
Your pain is incurable:
because of the greatness of your iniquity,
because your sins were increased,
I have done these things to you.
¹⁶  Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured,
and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity,
and those who despoil you shall be a spoil,
and all who prey on you I will give for a prey.
¹⁷  For I will restore health to you,
and I will heal you of your wounds, n'um YHWH,
because they have called you an outcast, saying,
It is Tziyon, whom no man seeks after.

¹⁸  Koh amar YHWH:
Hinneh, I will turn again the captivity of ohalei Ya'akov
and have compassion on his dwelling places,
and the city shall be built on its own hill,
and the palace shall be inhabited after its own manner.
¹⁹  Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving
and the voice of those who make merry,
and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few.
I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
²⁰  Their children also shall be as before,
and their congregation shall be established before me;
and I will punish all who oppress them.
²¹  Their prince shall be of themselves,
and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them,
and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach me,
for who is he who has had boldness to approach me? n'um YHWH.
²²  You shall be my people,
and I will be^** your Elohim.

²³  Behold, the tempest of YHWH!
Wrath is gone forth,
a sweeping tempest.
It shall burst on the head of the wicked.
²⁴  The fierce anger of YHWH shall not return
until he has executed, and until he has performed
the intents of his heart.
B'acharit ha-yamim you shall understand it.

"The people who were left of the sword
found favor ba-midbar,
Yisra'el, when I went to cause him to rest."
^{3 (2)}  YHWH appeared of old to me,
"Yes, I have loved you with an ahavat `olam.
Therefore with chesed have I drawn you.
^{4 (3)}  "Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
Virgin of Yisra'el.
Again shall you be adorned with your timbrels,
and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry.
^{5 (4)}  "Again you shall plant vineyards
b'harei Shomron.
The planters shall plant,
and shall enjoy.
^{6 (5)}  "For there shall be a day that the watchmen
b'har Efrayim shall cry,
'Arise, and let us go up to Tziyon
el-YHWH Eloheinu.'"

⁷  Ki koh amar YHWH,
"Sing with gladness for Ya'akov,
and shout for the rosh ha-goyim:
publish, praise, and say,
'YHWH, save your people,
the remnant of Yisra'el.'
⁸  "Hinneh, I will bring them me-eretz of the north,
and gather them from the uttermost parts of aretz,
among them the blind and the lame,
the woman with child and she who travails with child together:
a qahal gadol they shall return here.
⁹  "They shall come with weeping,
and with supplications I will lead them.
I will cause them to walk by rivers of mayim
in a straight way in which they shall not stumble,
for I am l'Yisra'el l'av,
v'Efrayim is my firstborn."

¹⁰  Hear d'var YHWH, goyim,
and declare it in the isles afar off,
and say, "He who scattered Yisra'el will gather him
and keep him as a shepherd does his flock."
¹¹  For YHWH has ransomed Ya'akov,
and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
¹²  "They shall come and sing bim'rom Tziyon,
and shall flow el-tov YHWH,
to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil,
and to the young of the flock and of the herd,
and their nephesh shall be as a watered garden,
and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
¹³  "Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance,
and the young men uz'qenim together;
for I will turn their mourning into joy,
and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
¹⁴  "I will satiate nephesh ha-kohanim with fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness," n'um YHWH.

¹⁵  Koh amar YHWH:
"Qol b'Ramah was heard,
lamentation, and bitter weeping,
Rachel [ewe] weeping `al-baneiha.
She refuses to be comforted `al-baneiha,
because they are no more."

¹⁶  Koh amar YHWH:
"Refrain your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears,
for your work shall be rewarded," n'um YHWH,
"and they shall come again me-eretz of the enemy.
¹⁷  "There is hope for your latter end," n'um YHWH,
"and banim shall come again to their own border.
¹⁸  "I have surely heard Efrayim bemoaning himself,
'You have chastised me, and I was chastised,
as an untrained calf.
Turn me, and I shall be turned,
for you are YHWH my Eloah.
¹⁹  'Surely after I was turned, I repented,
and after I was instructed, I struck on my thigh.
I was ashamed, yes, even confounded,
because I bore the reproach of my youth.'
²⁰  "Is Efrayim my dear son?
Is he a darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
I earnestly remember him still.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
I will surely have mercy on him," n'um YHWH.

²¹  "Set up road signs,
make guideposts;
set your heart toward the highway,
derekh by which you went.
Turn again, virgin of Yisra'el,
turn again to these your cities.
²²  "How long will you go here and there,
you backsliding daughter?
for YHWH has created a chadashah ba-aretz:
a woman shall encompass a man."

'YHWH bless you, habitation of tzedek, har ha-qodesh.'

²⁹  "Ba-yamim hahem they shall say no more,
'The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

³⁵  Koh amar YHWH,
who gives shemesh l'or yomam,,
chukkat of the moon and kokhavim l'or lailah,
who stirs up ha-yam, so that the waves of it roar; YHWH Tsva'ot sh'mo:
^31:36  "If ha-chukkim ha-eleh depart
from before me," n'um YHWH,
"then zera Yisra'el also shall cease
from being a goy l'fanai kol-ha-yamim."

³⁷  Koh amar YHWH:
"If shamayim above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,
then I will also cast off kol-zera Yisra'el
for all that they have done," n'um YHWH.

Hodu et-YHWH Tz'va'ot,
ki tov YHWH,
ki l`olam Chasdo;

Your familiar friends have set you on,
and have prevailed over you:
(now that) your feet are sunk in the mire,
they are turned away back. 

³  Prepare magen and large shield,
and draw near to battle.
⁴  Harness the horses,
and get up, you horsemen,
and stand forth with your helmets;
polish the spears,
put on the coats of mail.
⁵  Why have I seen it?
they are dismayed and are turned backward;
and their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled apace,
and don't look back: terror is on every side, n'um YHWH.
⁶  Don't let the swift flee away,
nor ha-gibbor escape;
in the north by the river P'rat
have they stumbled and fallen.

⁷  Who is this who rises up like the stream [Nile],
whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?
⁸  Mitzrayim rises up like the stream [Nile],
and his waters toss themselves like the rivers:
and he says, I will rise up, I will cover ha-aretz;
I will destroy the city and the inhabitants of it.
⁹  Go up, you horses; and rage, you chariots;
and let ha-gibborim go forth: Kush u'Phut, who handle magen;
v'Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
¹⁰  v'ha-yom ha-hu la'donai, YHWH Tz'va'ot,
a day of vengeance,
that he may avenge him of his adversaries:
and the sword shall devour and be sated,
and shall drink its fill of their blood;
for Adonai YHWH Tz'va'ot has a sacrifice
in the north country by the river P'rat.
¹¹  Go up into Gil`ad, and take balm,
virgin bat Mitzrayim:
in vain do you use many medicines;
there is no healing for you.
¹²  Goyim have heard of your shame,
and ha-aretz is full of your cry;
for gibbor has stumbled against gibbor,
they are fallen both of them together.

¹⁴  Declare you in Mitzrayim, and publish in Migdol,
and publish b'Nof u'v'Tachpanches:
say you, Stand forth, and prepare you;
for the sword has devoured round about you.
¹⁵  Why are your mighty one prostrated?  They didn't stand,
because YHWH thrust them down.
¹⁶  He made many to stumble,
yes, they fell one on another:
and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people,
and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.
¹⁷  They cried there, Par`oh melekh Mitzrayim is but a noise;
he has let ha-mo'ed pass by.

¹⁸  Chai ani, n'um ha-melekh -- YHWH Tz'va'ot sh'mo,
surely like Tavor be-harim,
and like Karmel ba-yom yavo.
¹⁹  Make ready to go into captivity, you daughter who dwells in Mitzrayim,
for Nof shall become a waste, and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant.

²⁰  Mitzrayim is a very beautiful heifer;
(but) a gadfly out of the north is come, is come.
²¹  Also her hired men in the midst of her are like fatted calves;
for they also are turned back, they are fled away together,
they didn't stand:
for the day of their calamity is come on them,
the time of their visitation.

²²  The sound of it shall go like ha-nachash;
for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as wood cutters.
²³  They shall cut down her forest, n'um YHWH,
though it can't be searched;
because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.
²⁴  Bat Mitzrayim shall be put to shame;
she shall be delivered b'yad am-tsafon.

²⁷  But you, don't be afraid, Ya`akov my eved,
neither be dismayed, Yisra'el:
ki hinneh, I will save you from afar,
and your zera from the land of their captivity;
and Ya`akov shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
²⁸  You, don't be afraid, Ya`akov my eved, n'um YHWH;
for I am with you:
for I will make a full end of kol ha-goyim where I have driven you;
but I will not make a full end of you,
but I will correct you l'mishpat,
and will in no way leave you unpunished.

²  Koh amar YHWH:
Hinneh, mayim rise up out of the north,
and shall become an overflowing stream,
and shall overflow the land and all that is therein,
the city and those who dwell therein;
and ha-adam shall cry out,
and all the inhabitants of ha-aretz shall wail.
³  At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels,
the fathers don't look back to their children, so feeble are their hands;
⁴  `al-ha-yom ha-ba to destroy kol P'lishtim,
to cut off from Tzor v'Tzidon every helper who remains:
for YHWH will destroy P'lishtim,
the remnant of the coastlands of Kaftor [Crete].
<sup>5</sup>  Baldness is come on `Aza;
Ashk'lon is brought to nothing,
the remnant of their valley:
how long will you cut yourself?
⁶  Hoy, sword of YHWH,
how long will it be before you be quiet?
put up yourself into your scabbard;
rest, and be still.
⁷  How can you be quiet,
seeing YHWH has given you a charge?
El Ashk'lon, and against the sea-shore,
there has he appointed it.

Hoy el-N'vo! for it is laid waste; Kiryatayim is put to shame, it is taken; the stronghold is put to shame and broken down.
²  The praise of Mo'av is no more; b'Cheshbon they have devised evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a goy.  You also, Madmen, shall be brought to silence: the sword shall pursue you.

³  The sound of a cry from Choronayim, desolation and great destruction!
⁴  Mo'av is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
⁵  For by the ascent of Luchit with continual weeping shall they go up; for at the descent of Choronayim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.
⁶  Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath ba-midbar.
⁷  For, because you have trusted in your ma'asim and in your treasures, you also shall be taken: and Kemosh shall go forth into captivity, his Kohanim and his sarim together.
⁸  The destroyer shall come el-kol ir, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; asher amar YHWH.

⁹  Give wings l'Mo'av, that she may fly and get her away: and her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein.

¹¹  Mo'av has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.

¹⁴  How say you, "Gibborim anachnu, and valiant men for the war"?
¹⁵  Mo'av is laid waste, and they are gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, n'um ha-melekh, YHWH Tz'va'ot sh'mo.
¹⁶  The calamity of Mo'av is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast.
¹⁷  All you who are round about him, bemoan him, and all you who know his name; say, "How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod!"

¹⁸  Come down from honor, sit in thirst, inhabitant, bat Divon; for the destroyer of Mo'av is come up against you, he has destroyed your strongholds.
¹⁹  Stand el-derekh and watch, Inhabitant of `Aro`er: ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, "What has been done?"
²⁰  Mo'av is put to shame; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell it b'Arnon, that Mo'av is laid waste.

²⁸  You inhabitants of Mo'av, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be like the yonah that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.
²⁹  We have heard of the pride of Mo'av, (that) he is very proud; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.
³⁰  I know his wrath, n'um YHWH, that it is nothing; his boastings have worked nothing.
³¹  Therefore will I wail for Mo'av; yes, I will cry out for Mo'av: el-anshei Kir-Cheres shall they mourn.
³²  With more than the weeping of Ya`zer will I weep for you, ha-gefen Sivmah: your branches passed over yam `ad yam Ya`zer: on your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer is fallen.
³³  Simchah and joy is taken away from the fruitful field u'me-eretz Mo'av; and I have caused yayin to cease from the wine presses: none shall tread with shouting; shouting shall be no shouting.

⁴⁰  Ki kho amar YHWH: Hinneh, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Mo'av.
⁴¹  K'riyyot is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and lev gibborei Mo'av ba-yom ha-hu shall be as the heart of an ishshah in her pangs.
⁴²  Mo'av shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against YHWH.
⁴³  Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are on you, inhabitant of Mo'av, n'um YHWH.

⁴⁴  He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring on him, even on Mo'av, the year of their visitation, n'um YHWH.
⁴⁵  Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Cheshbon; for a fire is gone forth out of Cheshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sichon, and has devoured the corner of Mo'av, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
⁴⁶  Woe to you, Mo'av!  the people of K'mosh is undone; for your banim are taken away captive, and your banot into captivity.
⁴⁷  Yet will I bring back the captivity of Mo'av b'acharit ha-yamim, n'um YHWH.  Thus far is mishpat Mo'av.

^49:1  Li'vnei `Ammon.  Koh amar YHWH: Has Yisra'el no banim?  has he no heir?  Why then does Malkam possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities of it?
<sup>2</sup>  Therefore, hinneh, yamim ba'im, n'um YHWH, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard el-Rabbah b'nei `Ammon; and it shall become a desolate heap, and her banot shall be burned ba-esh: then shall Yisra'el possess those who did possess him, amar YHWH.

³  Wail, Cheshbon, for `Ai is laid waste; cry, banot Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth: lament, and run back and forth among the fences; for Malkam shall go into captivity, his Kohanim and his sarim together.
⁴  Why glory you in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter?  who trusted in her treasures, (saying), Who shall come to me?
⁵  Hinneh, I will bring a fear on you, n'um Adonai YHWH, Tz'va'ot, from all who are round about you; and you shall be driven out every man right forth, and there shall be none to gather together the fugitives.

⁷  Le'Edom.  Koh amar YHWH Tz'va'ot: Ein od chokhmah b'Teman?  Is counsel perished from the prudent?  Is their wisdom vanished?
⁸  Flee you, turn back, dwell in the depths, inhabitants of D'dan; for I will bring the calamity of Esav on him, the time that I shall visit him.
⁹  If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?  If thieves by night, wouldn't they destroy until they had enough?
¹⁰  But I have made Esav bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his zera is destroyed, and his achim, and his neighbors; and he is no more.
¹¹  Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in me.

¹⁴  I have heard news from YHWH, and an ambassador is sent ba-goyim, (saying), Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.
¹⁵  Ki hinneh, I have made you katon ba-goyim and despised ba-adam.
¹⁶  As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, n'um YHWH.

²³  L'Dammesek, Chamat is confounded, v'Arpad; for they have heard evil news, they are melted away: there is sorrow ba-yam; it can't be quiet.
²⁴  Dammesek has grown feeble, she turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of an ishshah in travail.
²⁵  How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?
²⁶  Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, v'khol anshei of war shall be brought to silence ba-yom ha-hu, n'um YHWH Tz'va'ot.
²⁷  I will kindle a fire in the wall of Dammesek, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad.

Koh amar YHWH:
Arise you, go up el-Kedar, and destroy b'nei kedem.
²⁹  Their ohelim and their flocks shall they take; they shall carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their g'malim; and they shall cry to them, Terror on every side!
³⁰  Flee you, wander far off, dwell in the depths, you inhabitants of Chatzor, n'um YHWH; for Nevukhadretztzar melekh Bavel has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you.
³¹  Arise, go up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care, n'um YHWH; that have neither gates nor bars, that dwell alone.
³²  Their g'malim shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter l'khol ruach those who have the corners (of their hair) cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, n'um YHWH.
³³  Chatzor shall be a dwelling-place of jackals, a desolation `ad`olam: no man shall dwell there, neither shall any ben adam sojourn therein.

²  Declare you ba-goyim and publish,
and set up a standard; publish, and don't conceal:
say, Bavel is taken,
Bel is put to shame,
M'rodakh is dismayed;
her images are put to shame,
her idols are dismayed. 

¹¹  Because you are glad, because you rejoice,
you who plunder my heritage,
because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out (the grain),
and neigh as strong horses;
¹²  your mother shall be utterly put to shame;
she who bore you shall be confounded:
behold, she shall be the least of goyim,
a midbar, a dry land, va'aravah.
¹³  Because of the wrath of YHWH she shall not be inhabited,
but she shall be wholly desolate:
everyone who goes el-Bavel shall be astonished,
and hiss at all her plagues.
¹⁴  Set yourselves in array el-Bavel round about,
all you who bend the bow;
shoot at her, spare no arrows:
for she has sinned la-YHWH.
¹⁵  Shout against her round about:
she has submitted herself;
her bulwarks are fallen,
her walls are thrown down;
for it is the vengeance of YHWH:
take vengeance on her;
as she has done, do to her.
¹⁶  Cut off the sower mi-Bavel,
and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest:
for fear of the oppressing sword,
they shall turn everyone to his people,
and they shall flee everyone to his own eretz.

²¹  Go up `al-ha-aretz Meratayim,
even against it, and against the inhabitants of P'kod:
kill and utterly destroy after them,
n'um YHWH,
and do according to all that I have commanded you.
²²  A voice of war is ba-aretz, and of great destruction.
²³  How the hammer of kol ha-aretz
is cut apart and broken!
how is Bavel become a desolation ba-goyim!
²⁴  I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, Bavel,
and you weren't aware:
you are found, and also caught,
because you have striven against YHWH.
²⁵  YHWH has opened his armory,
and has brought forth the weapons of his indignation;
for Adonai, YHWH Tz'va'ot, has a work (to do)
b'eretz Kasdim.
²⁶  Come against her from the utmost border;
open her store-houses;
cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly;
let nothing of her be left.
²⁷  Kill all her bulls;
let them go down to the slaughter:
woe to them! for their day is come,
the time of their visitation. 

³¹  Hinneh, I am against you, you proud one,
n'um Adonai YHWH Tz'va'ot;
for your day is come,
the time that I will visit you.
³²  The proud one shall stumble and fall,
and none shall raise him up;
and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it shall devour all who are round about him.

³⁵  A sword is on Kasdim, n'um YHWH,
and on the inhabitants of Bavel,
and on her sarim, and on her chakhamim.
³⁶  A sword is on the boasters,
and they shall become fools;
a sword is on her gibborim,
and they shall be dismayed.
³⁷  A sword is on their horses, and on their chariots,
and on all the mixed people who are in the midst of her;
and they shall become as women:
a sword is on her treasures,
and they shall be robbed.
³⁸  A drought is on her mayim,
and they shall be dried up;
for it is a land of engraved images,
and they are mad over idols.

⁴¹  Hinneh, am ba mi-tzafon;
v'goy gadol u'm'lakhim rabbim
shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of ha-aretz.
⁴²  They lay hold on bow and spear;
they are cruel, and have no mercy;
their voice roars like the sea;
and they ride on horses,
everyone set in array, as a man to the battle,
against you, bat-Bavel.
⁴³  Melekh Bavel has heard the news of them,
and his hands wax feeble:
anguish has taken hold of him,
pangs as of a woman in childbirth.

Hinneh, I will raise up against Bavel,
and against those who dwell in Lev-Kamai,
a destroying ruach.
²  I will send to Bavel strangers,
who shall scatter her;
and they shall empty her eretz:
for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
³  Against (him who) bends let the archer bend his bow,
and against (him who) lifts himself up in his coat of mail:
and don't spare her young men;
destroy utterly all her host.
⁴  They shall fall down slain b'eretz Kasdim,
and thrust through in her streets.
⁵  For Yisra'el is not forsaken, nor Y'hudah,
of his Elohim, of YHWH Tz'va'ot;
though their land is full of guilt
mi-K'dosh Yisra'el.
⁶  Flee out of the midst of Bavel,
and save every man his life;
don't be cut off in her iniquity:
for it is the time of the vengeance of YHWH;
he will render to her a recompense.
⁷  Kos zahav Bavel b'yad YHWH,
who made kol ha-aretz drunken:
goyim have drunk of her yayin;
therefore goyim are mad.
⁸  Bavel is suddenly fallen and destroyed:
wail for her;
take balm for her pain,
if so be she may be healed.
⁹  We would have healed Bavel,
but she is not healed:
forsake her, and let us go everyone
into his own country;
for her mishpat reaches el-ha-shamayim,
and is lifted up even to the skies.
¹⁰  YHWH has brought forth tzidkoteinu:
come, and let us declare b'Tziyon
et-ma'aseh YHWH Eloheinu.

¹¹  Make sharp the arrows;
hold firm the shields:

¹²  Set up a standard against the walls of Bavel,
make the watch strong,
set the watchmen,
prepare the ambushes;
for YHWH has both purposed and done
that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Bavel.
¹³  You who dwell `al-mayim rabbim,
abundant in treasures,
your end is come,
the measure of your covetousness.
<sup>14</sup>  YHWH Tz'va'ot has sworn by himself, (saying),
Surely I will fill you with men, as with the canker-worm;
and they shall lift up a shout against you.
<sup>15</sup>  He has made eretz by his power,
he has established the world by his chokhmah,
and by his understanding
has he stretched out shamayim:
<sup>16</sup>  when he utters his voice, there is a hamon mayim ba-shamayim,
and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of aretz;
he makes lightnings for the rain,
and brings forth ruach out of his treasuries.
<sup>17</sup>  Kol adam is become brutish, without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his image;
for his molten image is falsehood,
and there is no ruach in them.
<sup>18</sup>  They are vanity, a work of delusion:
in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
<sup>19</sup>  The portion of Ya`akov is not like these;
for he is the former of all things
and is the tribe of his inheritance:
YHWH Tz'va'ot sh'mo.

²⁰  You are my battle-ax and weapons of war:
and with you will I break in pieces goyim;
and with you will I destroy mamlakhot;
²¹  and with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein;
²²  and with you will I break in pieces ish v'ishshah;
and with you will I break in pieces zaqen and youth;
and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin;
²³  and with you will I break in pieces ro'eh and his flock;
and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke (of oxen);
and with you will I break in pieces governors and deputies.

²⁵  Hinneh, I am against you, destroying mountain, n'um YHWH,
which destroy kol ha-aretz;
and I will stretch out my hand on you, and roll you down from the rocks,
and will make you a burnt mountain.
²⁶  They shall not take of you a stone for a corner,
nor a stone for foundations;
but you shall be desolate for ever,
n'um YHWH.

²⁷  Set up a standard ba-aretz,
blow the shofar ba-goyim,
prepare goyim against her,
call together against her mamlakhot
Ararat, Minni, v'Ashk'naz:
appoint a marshal against her;
cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm.
²⁸  Prepare against her goyim
et-malkhei Madai, the governors of it, and all the deputies of it,
and kol eretz of their dominion.
²⁹  Ha-aretz trembles and is in pain;
for the purposes of YHWH against Bavel do stand,
to make eretz Bavel a desolation,
without inhabitant.
³⁰  Gibborei Babel have forborne to fight,
they remain in their strongholds;
their might has failed;
they are become l'nashim:
her dwelling-places are set on fire;
her bars are broken.
³¹  One post shall run to meet another,
and one messenger to meet another,
to show melekh Bavel
that his city is taken on every quarter:
³²  and the passages are seized,
and the reeds they have burned ba-esh,
and the men of war are frightened.
³³  Ki koh amar YHWH Tz'va'ot, Elohei Yisra'el:
Bat Bavel is like a threshing floor
at the time when it is trodden;
yet a little while,
and the time of harvest shall come for her.

³⁴  Nevukhadretztzar melekh Bavel has devoured me,
he has crushed me,
he has made me an empty vessel,
he has, like a tannin, swallowed me up,
he has filled his maw with my delicacies;
he has cast me out.
³⁵  Violence done to me and to my flesh be `al-Bavel,
shall the inhabitant of Tziyon say;
and, My blood be on the inhabitants of Kasdim,
shall Yerushalaim say.
³⁶  Therefore koh amar YHWH:
Hinneh, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you;
and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
³⁷  Bavel shall become heaps,
a dwelling-place for jackals,
an astonishment, and a hissing,
without inhabitant.

³⁸  They shall roar together like young lions;
they shall growl as lions' whelps.
³⁹  When they are heated, I will make their feast,
and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice,
and sleep a perpetual sleep,
and not wake, n'um YHWH.
⁴⁰  I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams with male goats.

⁴¹  How is Sheshakh taken!
and the praise of kol ha-aretz seized!
how is Bavel become
a desolation ba-goyim!
⁴²  The sea is come up `al-Bavel;
she is covered with the multitude of the waves of it.
⁴³  Her cities are become a desolation,
a dry eretz va-aravah,
a land in which no man dwells,
neither does any ben adam pass thereby.
⁴⁴  I will punish Bel b'Vavel,
and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up;
and goyim shall not flow any more to him:
yes, the wall of Bavel shall fall.

⁴⁵  My people, go you out of the midst of her,
and save yourselves every man
from the fierce anger of YHWH.
⁴⁶  Don't let your heart faint, neither fear
for the news that shall be heard ba-aretz;
for news shall come one year,
and after that in another year (shall come) news,
and violence ba-aretz,
ruler against ruler.

⁴⁷  Therefore, hinneh, yamim ba-im
that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Bavel;
and her whole land shall be confounded;
and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
⁴⁸  Then shamayim va-aretz,
and all that is therein,
shall sing for joy over Bavel;
for the destroyers shall come to her mi-tzafon,
n'um YHWH.
⁴⁹  As Bavel has caused the slain of Yisra'el to fall,
so at Bavel shall fall the slain of kol ha-aretz.

⁵⁰  You who have escaped the sword,
go, don't stand still;
remember YHWH from afar,
and let Yerushalaim come into your heart.
⁵¹  We are confounded, because we have heard reproach;
confusion has covered our faces:
for strangers are come
into the sanctuaries of beit YHWH. 

⁵²  Therefore, hinneh, yamim ba'im, n'um YHWH,
that I will execute judgment on her engraved images;
and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.
⁵³  Though Bavel should mount up to ha-shamayim,
and though she should fortify the height of her strength,
yet from me shall destroyers come to her,
n'um YHWH.

^51:54  The sound of a cry mi-Bavel, and of great destruction me-eretz Kasdim!
⁵⁵  For YHWH lays Bavel waste,
and destroys out of her the qol gadol;
and their waves roar like mayim rabbim;
the noise of their voice is uttered:
⁵⁶  for the destroyer is come on her,
on Bavel,
and her gibborim are taken,
their bows are broken in pieces;
for YHWH is an El of recompenses,
shalem y'shalem [he will surely requite].
⁵⁷  I will make drunk her sarim and her chakhamim,
her governors and her deputies, and her gibborim;
and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,
n'um ha-melekh -- YHWH Tz'va'ot sh'mo. 

⁵⁸  Koh amar YHWH Tz'va'ot:
The broad walls of Bavel shall be utterly overthrown,
and her high gates
shall be burned ba-esh;
and the peoples shall labor for vanity,
and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.