⁵ And now, pray, let me cause you to know, That which I am doing to my vineyard, To turn aside its hedge, And it hath been for consumption, To break down its wall, And it hath been for a treading-place.

²⁴ and they shall fall by the mouth of the sword, and shall be led captive to all the nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by nations, till the times of nations be fulfilled.

¹⁵ Trodden down all my mighty ones hath the Lord in my midst, He proclaimed against me an appointed time, To destroy my young men, A wine-press hath the Lord trodden, To the virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁸ And disannulled hath been your covenant with death, And your provision with Sheol doth not stand, An overflowing scourge, when it passeth over, Then ye have been to it for a treading-place.

² and the court that is without the sanctuary leave out, and thou mayest not measure it, because it was given to the nations, and the holy city they shall tread down forty-two months;

³ By feet trodden down is the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,

⁶ Against a profane nation I send him, And concerning a people of My wrath I charge him, To spoil spoil, and to seize prey, And to make it a treading-place as the clay of out places.

⁴⁹ `Jehovah doth lift up against thee a nation, from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle it flieth; a nation whose tongue thou hast not heard,

⁵⁰ a nation -- fierce of countenance -- which accepteth not the face of the aged, and the young doth not favour;

⁵¹ and it hath eaten the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, till thou art destroyed; which leaveth not to thee corn, new wine, and oil, increase of thine oxen, and wealth of thy flock, till it hath destroyed thee.

⁵² `And it hath laid siege to thee in all thy gates, till thy walls come down, the high and the fenced ones in which thou art trusting, in all thy land; yea, it hath laid siege to thee in all thy gates, in all thy land, which Jehovah thy God hath given to thee;

¹³ `And I hear a certain holy one speaking, and a certain holy one saith to the wonderful numberer who is speaking: Till when `is' the vision of the continual `sacrifice', and of the transgression, an astonishment, to make both sanctuary and host a treading down?

¹² Believe not did the kings of earth, And any of the inhabitants of the world, That come would an adversary and enemy Into the gates of Jerusalem.

² She weepeth sore in the night, And her tear `is' on her cheeks, There is no comforter for her out of all her lovers, All her friends dealt treacherously by her, They have been to her for enemies.

³ Removed hath Judah because of affliction, And because of the abundance of her service; She hath dwelt among nations, She hath not found rest, All her pursuers have overtaken her between the straits.

⁴ The ways of Zion are mourning, Without any coming at the appointed time, All her gates are desolate, her priests sigh, Her virgins are afflicted -- and she hath bitterness.

⁵ Her adversaries have become chief, Her enemies have been at ease, For Jehovah hath afflicted her, For the abundance of her transgressions, Her infants have gone captive before the adversary.

⁶ And go out from the daughter of Zion doth all her honour, Her princes have been as harts -- They have not found pasture, And they go powerless before a pursuer.

⁷ Remembered hath Jerusalem `In' the days of her affliction and her mournings, all her desirable things that were from the days of old, In the falling of her people into the hand of an adversary, And she hath no helper; Seen her have adversaries, They have laughed at her cessation.

⁸ A sin hath Jerusalem sinned, Therefore impure she hath become, All who honoured her have esteemed her lightly, For they have seen her nakedness, Yea, she herself hath sighed and turneth backward.

⁹ Her uncleanness `is' in her skirts, She hath not remembered her latter end, And she cometh down wonderfully, There is no comforter for her. See, O Jehovah, mine affliction, For exerted himself hath an enemy.

¹⁰ For the fenced city `is' alone, A habitation cast out and forsaken as a wilderness, There doth the calf delight, And there it lieth down, And hath consumed its branches.

¹¹ In the withering of its branch it is broken off, Women are coming in setting it on fire, For it `is' not a people of understanding, Therefore pity it not doth its Maker, And its Former doth not favour it.

¹⁰ For rest doth the hand of Jehovah on this mountain, And trodden down is Moab under Him, As trodden down is straw on a dunghill.

¹² Why hast Thou broken down its hedges, And all passing by the way have plucked it?

¹³ A boar out of the forest doth waste it, And a wild beast of the fields consumeth it.

¹⁴ God of Hosts, turn back, we beseech Thee, Look from heaven, and see, and inspect this vine,

¹⁵ And the root that Thy right hand planted, And the branch Thou madest strong for Thee,

¹⁶ Burnt with fire -- cut down, From the rebuke of Thy face they perish.

¹ An Instruction of Asaph. Why, O God, hast Thou cast off for ever? Thine anger smoketh against the flock of Thy pasture.

² Remember Thy company. Thou didst purchase of old, Thou didst redeem the rod of Thy inheritance, This mount Zion -- Thou didst dwell in it.

³ Lift up Thy steps to the perpetual desolations, Everything the enemy did wickedly in the sanctuary.

⁴ Roared have thine adversaries, In the midst of Thy meeting-places, They have set their ensigns as ensigns.

⁵ He is known as one bringing in on high Against a thicket of wood -- axes.

⁶ And now, its carvings together With axe and hatchet they break down,

⁷ They have sent into fire Thy sanctuary, to the earth they polluted the tabernacle of Thy name,

⁸ They said in their hearts, `Let us oppress them together,' They did burn all the meeting-places of God in the land.

⁹ Our ensigns we have not seen, There is no more a prophet, Nor with us is one knowing how long.

¹⁰ Till when, O God, doth an adversary reproach? Doth an enemy despise thy name for ever?

³ and say to the king, `Let the king to the age live! wherefore should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of the graves of my fathers, `is' a waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?'

⁴ and the king of Egypt causeth Eliakim his brother to reign over Judah and Jerusalem, and turneth his name to Jehoiakim; and Jehoahaz his brother hath Necho taken, and bringeth him in to Egypt.

⁵ A son of twenty and five years `is' Jehoiakim in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah his God;

⁶ against him hath Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon come up, and bindeth him in brazen fetters to take him away to Babylon.

⁷ And of the vessels of the house of Jehovah hath Nebuchadnezzar brought in to Babylon, and putteth them in his temple in Babylon.

⁸ And the rest of the matters of Jehoiakim, and his abominations that he hath done, and that which is found against him, lo, they are written on the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, and reign doth Jehoiachin his son in his stead.

⁹ A son of eight years is Jehoiachin in his reigning, and three months and ten days he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah;

¹⁰ and at the turn of the year hath king Nebuchadnezzar sent and bringeth him in to Babylon, with the desirable vessels of the house of Jehovah, and causeth Zedekiah his brother to reign over Judah and Jerusalem.

³¹ and I have made your cities a waste, and have made desolate your sanctuaries, and I smell not at your sweet fragrances;

³² and I have made desolate the land, and your enemies, who are dwelling in it, have been astonished at it.

³³ And you I scatter among nations, and have drawn out after you a sword, and your land hath been a desolation, and your cities are a waste.

³⁴ `Then doth the land enjoy its sabbaths -- all the days of the desolation, and ye in the land of your enemies -- then doth the land rest, and hath enjoyed its sabbaths;

³⁵ all the days of the desolation it resteth that which it hath not rested in your sabbaths in your dwelling on it.

⁷ Give help, let us go down, and mingle there their pronunciation, so that a man doth not understand the pronunciation of his companion.'

⁴ And they say, `Give help, let us build for ourselves a city and tower, and its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth.'