Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!”

I will disturb many peoples, when I bring about your destruction among the nations, among countries you do not know.

I will shoot against them deadly, destructive arrows of famine, which I will shoot to destroy you. I will prolong a famine on you and will remove the bread supply.

I will pour out my anger on you; the fire of my fury I will blow on you. I will hand you over to brutal men, who are skilled in destruction.

“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Put away violence and destruction, and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people, declares the sovereign Lord.

You will be an object of scorn and taunting, a prime example of destruction among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury. I, the Lord, have spoken!

Terror is coming! They will seek peace, but find none.

Yet I had pity on them and did not destroy them, so I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.

A total ruin I will make it! It will come to an end when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.’

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines have exacted merciless revenge, showing intense scorn in their effort to destroy Judah with unrelenting hostility.

Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders.

It was like the vision I saw when he came to destroy the city, and the vision I saw by the Kebar River. I threw myself face down.

You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it.

“‘But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands.

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: A disaster – a one-of-a-kind disaster – is coming!

“Look, the day! Look, it is coming! Doom has gone out! The staff has budded, pride has blossomed!

This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit but have seen nothing!

“‘After all of your evil – “Woe! Woe to you!” declares the sovereign Lord –

Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit.