<p class="poetry">Everyone who is caught will be stabbed;p> <p class="poetry">everyone who is seized<n id="1" /> will die<n id="2" /> by the sword.p>

<p class="poetry">All your children will be followers of the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">and your children will enjoy great prosperity.<n id="1" />p>

<n id="1" /><p class="poetry">Why do you insist on being battered?p> <p class="poetry">Why do you continue to rebel?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Your head has a massive wound,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">your whole body is weak.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Their arrows are sharpened,p> <p class="poetry">and all their bows are prepared.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The hooves of their horses are hard as flint,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">For this reason all hands hang limp,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">every human heart loses its courage.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">along with the plants by the mouth of the river.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">All the cultivated land near the riverp> <p class="poetry">will turn to dust and be blown away.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Come near, you nations, and listen!p> <p class="poetry">Pay attention, you people!p> <p class="poetry">The earth and everything it contains must listen,p> <p class="poetry">the world and everything that lives in it.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdomp> <p class="poetry">and all her officials will disappear.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Every valley must be elevated,p> <p class="poetry">and every mountain and hill leveled.p> <p class="poetry">The rough terrain will become a level plain,p> <p class="poetry">the rugged landscape a wide valley.p>

<p class="poetry">I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will dry up all their vegetation.p> <p class="poetry">I will turn streams into islands,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and dry up pools of water.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">who commissions<n id="1" /> Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">to carry out all my wishes<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and to decree concerning Jerusalem, &#8216;She will be rebuilt,&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">and concerning the temple, &#8216;It will be reconstructed.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will make your pinnacles out of gems,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">your gates out of beryl,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and your outer wall<n id="3" /> out of beautiful<n id="4" /> stones.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Look, the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">is about to remove from Jerusalem<n id="2" /> and Judahp> <p class="poetry">every source of security, including<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">all the food and water,<n id="4" />p>

They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers.<n id="1" /> Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">They will all be left<n id="1" /> for the birds of the hillsp> <p class="poetry">and the wild animals;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the birds will eat them during the summer,p> <p class="poetry">and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.p>

<p class="poetry">Look what&#8217;s coming!p> <p class="poetry">A charioteer,p> <p class="poetry">a team of horses.&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">When questioned, he replies,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Babylon has fallen, fallen!p> <p class="poetry">All the idols of her gods lie shattered on the ground!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">It will be like a dream, a night vision.p> <p class="poetry">There will be a horde from all the nations that fight against Ariel,p> <p class="poetry">those who attack her and her stronghold and besiege her.p>

<p class="poetry">All the stars in the sky will fade away,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the sky will roll up like a scroll;p> <p class="poetry">all its stars will wither,p> <p class="poetry">like a leaf withers and falls from a vinep> <p class="poetry">or a fig withers and falls from a tree.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">A voice says, &#8220;Cry out!&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">Another asks,<n id="1" /> &#8220;What should I cry out?&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The first voice responds:<n id="2" /> &#8220;All people are like grass,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and all their promises<n id="4" /> are like the flowers in the field.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Who has measured out the waters<n id="1" /> in the hollow of his hand,p> <p class="poetry">or carefully<n id="2" /> measured the sky,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">or carefully weighed<n id="4" /> the soil of the earth,p> <p class="poetry">or weighed the mountains in a balance,p> <p class="poetry">or the hills on scales?<n id="5" />p>