<p class="poetry">Cursed be the day I was born!p> <p class="poetry">May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me.<n id="1" />p>

I will force you and your mother who gave you birth into exile. You will be exiled to<n id="1" /> a country where neither of you were born, and you will both die there.

<p class="poetry">Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?p> <p class="poetry">Why then do I see all these strong menp> <p class="poetry">grabbing their stomachs in pain like<n id="2" /> a woman giving birth?p> <p class="poetry">And why do their facesp> <p class="poetry">turn so deathly pale?p>

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, tell you what will happen to<n id="1" /> the children who are born here in this land and to the men and women who are their mothers and fathers.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">The people cry out,<n id="1" /> &#8220;We have heard reports about them!p> <p class="poetry">We have become helpless with fear!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Anguish grips us,p> <p class="poetry">agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!p>

<p class="poetry">Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn<n id="1" /> in the fieldp> <p class="poetry">because there is no grass.p>

<p class="poetry">You may feel as secure as a birdp> <p class="poetry">nesting in the cedars of Lebanon.p> <p class="poetry">But oh how you<n id="1" /> will groan<n id="2" /> when the pains of judgment come on you.p> <p class="poetry">They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">The people of Damascus will lose heart and turn to flee.p> <p class="poetry">Panic will grip them.p> <p class="poetry">Pain and anguish will seize themp> <p class="poetry">like a woman in labor.p>

<p class="poetry">But Babylonia will be put to great shame.p> <p class="poetry">The land where you were born<n id="1" /> will be disgraced.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed,<n id="2" /> Babylonia will become the least important of all nations.p> <p class="poetry">It will become a dry and barren desert.p>

<p class="poetry">The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when he hears news of their coming.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Anguish will grip him,p> <p class="poetry">agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.<n id="3" />p>

Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and allow your daughters get married so that they too can have sons and daughters. Grow in number; do not dwindle away.

<p class="poetry">They say to a wooden idol,<n id="1" /> &#8216;You are my father.&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">They say to a stone image, &#8216;You gave birth to me.&#8217;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Yet when they are in trouble, they say, &#8216;Come and save us!&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">What will you say<n id="1" /> when the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> appoints as rulers over you those alliesp> <p class="poetry">that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then anguish and agony will grip youp> <p class="poetry">like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Oh, mother, how I regret<n id="2" /> that you ever gave birth to me!p> <p class="poetry">I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone.p> <p class="poetry">Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">The person who gathers wealth by unjust meansp> <p class="poetry">is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Cursed be the manp> <p class="poetry">who made my father very gladp> <p class="poetry">when he brought him the newsp> <p class="poetry">that a baby boy had been born to him!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Then I will reply,<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will bring them back from the land of the north.p> <p class="poetry">I will gather them in from the distant parts of the earth.p> <p class="poetry">Blind and lame people will come with them,p> <p class="poetry">so will pregnant women and women about to give birth.p> <p class="poetry">A vast throng of people will come back here.p>

<p class="poetry">The mother who had seven children<n id="1" /> will grow faint.p> <p class="poetry">All the breath will go out of her.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Her pride and joy will be taken from her in the prime of their life.p> <p class="poetry">It will seem as if the sun had set while it was still day.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">She will suffer shame and humiliation.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">I will cause any of them who are still left alivep> <p class="poetry">to be killed in war by the onslaughts of their enemies,&#8221;<n id="5" />p> <p class="bodytext">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>