They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. ¹  Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. ² 

Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, ¹  for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect ²  in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ¹  As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

¹ All your leaders ran away together – they fled to a distant place; all your refugees ²  were captured together – they were captured without a single arrow being shot. ³ 

Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. ¹  The sovereign Lord will kill you, but he will give his servants another name.

captains of groups of fifty, the respected citizens, ¹  advisers and those skilled in magical arts, ²  and those who know incantations.

It ¹  furiously struck down nations with unceasing blows. ²  It angrily ruled over nations, oppressing them without restraint. ³ 

Egypt is totally incapable of helping. ¹  For this reason I call her ‘Proud one ²  who is silenced.’” ³ 

Look, all of them are nothing, ¹  their accomplishments are nonexistent; their metal images lack any real substance. ² 

Everyone will suffer – the priest as well as the people, ¹  the master as well as the servant, ²  the elegant lady as well as the female attendant, ³  the seller as well as the buyer, ⁴  the borrower as well as the lender, ⁵  the creditor as well as the debtor. ⁶ 

No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: ‘I burned half of it in the fire – yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?’ ¹ 

No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, ¹  or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, ²  for my people will live as long as trees, ³  and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. ⁴ 

How tragic that the once-faithful city has become a prostitute! ¹  She was once a center of ²  justice, fairness resided in her, but now only murderers. ³ 

I will reestablish honest judges as in former times, wise advisers as in earlier days. ¹  Then you will be called, ‘The Just City, Faithful Town.’”

The fishermen will mourn and lament, all those who cast a fishhook into the river, and those who spread out a net on the water’s surface will grieve. ¹ 

Is this really your boisterous city ¹  whose origins are in the distant past, ²  and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

those who bear false testimony against a person, ¹  who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate ²  and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges. ³ 

all will be put to shame ¹  because of a nation that cannot help them, who cannot give them aid or help, but only shame and disgrace.”

A deceiver’s methods are evil; ¹  he dreams up evil plans ²  to ruin the poor with lies, even when the needy are in the right. ³ 

This is what the Lord says, “Promote ¹  justice! Do what is right! For I am ready to deliver you; I am ready to vindicate you openly. ²