<p class="poetry">I looked and saw that there were no more people,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and that all the birds in the sky had flown away.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I looked at the land and saw<n id="1" /> that it was an empty wasteland.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.p>

Then the dead bodies of these people will be left on the ground for the birds and wild animals to eat.<n id="1" /> There will not be any survivors to scare them away.

<p class="poetry">Because of this the land will mournp> <p class="poetry">and the sky above will grow black.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For I have made my purpose known<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and I will not relent or turn back from carrying it out.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do not start following pagan religious practices.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not be in awe of signs that occur<n id="2" /> in the skyp> <p class="poetry">even though the nations hold them in awe.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Do you really think anyone can hide himselfp> <p class="poetry">where I cannot see him?&#8221; the <sc>Lordsc> asks.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do you not know that I am everywhere?&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the <sc>Lordsc> asks.<n id="3" />p>

I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.<n id="1" />

But ever since we stopped sacrificing and pouring out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven, we have been in great need. Our people have died in wars or of starvation.&#8221;<n id="1" />

The women added,<n id="1" /> &#8220;We did indeed sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven. But it was with the full knowledge and approval of our husbands that we made cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Foreigners living there will say,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed.p> <p class="poetry">Let&#8217;s leave Babylonia<n id="2" /> and each go back to his own country.p> <p class="poetry">For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions.p> <p class="poetry">It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.&#8217;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and fortifies her elevated stronghold,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will send destroyers against her,&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" />p>

Children are gathering firewood, fathers are building fires with it, and women are mixing dough to bake cakes to offer to the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven.<n id="1" /> They are also pouring out drink offerings to other gods. They seem to do all this just<n id="2" /> to trouble me.

They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars.<n id="1" /> These are things they<n id="2" /> adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance,<n id="3" /> from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people<n id="4" /> will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground.<n id="5" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will weep and mourn<n id="2" /> for the grasslands on the mountains,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wildernessp> <p class="poetry">because they are so scorched no one travels through them.p> <p class="poetry">The sound of livestock is no longer heard there.p> <p class="poetry">Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fieldsp> <p class="poetry">have fled and are gone.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Do any of the worthless idols<n id="1" /> of the nations cause rain to fall?p> <p class="poetry">Do the skies themselves send showers?p> <p class="poetry">Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So we put our hopes in you<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">because you alone do all this.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses.<n id="1" />

They will die of deadly diseases. No one will mourn for them. They will not be buried. Their dead bodies will lie like manure spread on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation. Their corpses will be food for the birds and wild animals.p>

In this place I will thwart<n id="1" /> the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will deliver them over to the power of their enemies who are seeking to kill them. They will die by the sword<n id="2" /> at the hands of their enemies.<n id="3" /> I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild beasts to eat.

The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies<n id="1" /> just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars<n id="2" /> and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.&#8217;&#8221;p>

&#8216;Oh, Lord <sc>Godsc>,<n id="1" /> you did indeed<n id="2" /> make heaven and earth by your mighty power and great strength.<n id="3" /> Nothing is too hard for you!