⁶ And the sword will go through his towns, wasting his children and causing destruction because of their evil designs.

¹⁴ So a great outcry will go up from among your people, and all your strong places will be broken, as Beth-arbel was broken by Shalman in the day of war, as the mother was broken on the rocks with her children.

⁶ And they will take it to Assyria and give it to the great king; shame will come on Ephraim, and Israel will be shamed because of its image.

¹ For see, the day is coming, it is burning like an oven; all the men of pride and all who do evil will be dry stems of grass: and in the day which is coming they will be burned up, says the Lord of armies, till they have not a root or a branch.

¹¹ I will put an end to your use of secret arts, and you will have no more readers of signs:

⁴⁷ And say to the woodland of the South, Give ear to the words of the Lord: this is what the Lord has said: See, I will have a fire lighted in you, for the destruction of every green tree in you and every dry tree: the flaming flame will not be put out, and all faces from the south to the north will be burned by it.

² Son of man, what is the vine-tree more than any branching tree which is among the trees of the woods?

³ Will its wood be used for any work? do men make of it a pin for hanging any vessel on?

⁴ See, it is put into the fire for burning: the fire has made a meal of its two ends and the middle part of it is burned; is it good for any work?

⁵ Truly, before it was cut down, it was not used for any purpose: how much less, when the fire has made a meal of it and it is burned, will it be made into anything?

⁶ For this cause the Lord has said: Like the vine-tree among the trees of the woods which I have given to the fire for burning, so will I give the people of Jerusalem.

⁷ And my face will be turned against them; and though they have come out of the fire they will be burned up by it; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord when my face is turned against them.

¹⁷ They will take all the produce of your fields, which would have been food for your sons and your daughters: they will take your flocks and your herds: they will take all your vines and your fig-trees: and with the sword they will make waste your walled towns in which you put your faith.

¹ Ho! uncontrolled children, says the Lord, who give effect to a purpose which is not mine, and who make an agreement, but not by my spirit, increasing their sin:

¹⁰ For the strong town is without men, an unpeopled living-place; and she has become a waste land: there the young ox will take his rest, and its branches will be food for him.

⁵ For before the time of getting in the grapes, after the opening of the bud, when the flower has become a grape ready for crushing, he will take away the small branches with knives, cutting down and taking away the wide-stretching branches.

¹⁴ For this cause the Lord took away from Israel head and tail, high and low, in one day.

⁴³ Again and again he made them free; but their hearts were turned against his purpose, and they were overcome by their sins.

³⁹ So they became unclean through their works, going after their evil desires.

¹¹ It sent out its arms to the Sea, and its branches to the River.

¹² Why are its walls broken down by your hands, so that all who go by may take its fruit?

¹³ It is uprooted by the pigs from the woods, the beasts of the field get their food from it.

¹⁴ Come back, O God of armies: from heaven let your eyes be turned to this vine, and give your mind to it,

¹⁵ Even to the tree which was planted by your right hand, and to the branch which you made strong for yourself.

¹⁶ It is burned with fire; it is cut down: they are made waste by the wrath of your face.

²⁵ Outside they will be cut off by the sword, and in the inner rooms by fear; death will take the young man and the virgin, the baby at the breast and the grey-haired man.

⁵² Your towns will be shut in by his armies, till your high walls, in which you put your faith, have come down: his armies will be round your towns, through all your land which the Lord your God has given you.

³³ And I will send you out in all directions among the nations, and my sword will be uncovered against you, and your land will be without any living thing, and your towns will be made waste.

³¹ And I will make your towns waste and send destruction on your holy places; I will take no pleasure in the smell of your sweet perfumes;