Leave Babylon! Flee from the Babylonians! Announce it with a shout of joy! Make this known! Proclaim it throughout the earth! ¹  Say, ‘The Lord protects ²  his servant Jacob.

No foreigner who becomes a follower of ¹  the Lord should say, ‘The Lord will certainly ²  exclude me from his people.’ The eunuch should not say, ‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’”

and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place, and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned. ¹ 

Those who make clothes from combed flax will be embarrassed; those who weave will turn pale. ¹ 

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

Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent; the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting. ¹ 

When one looks out over the land, he sees ¹  distress and darkness, gloom ²  and anxiety, darkness and people forced from the land. ³ 

The people of ¹  Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz. For this reason Moab’s soldiers shout in distress; their courage wavers. ² 

I solemnly make this oath ¹  – what I say is true and reliable: ²  ‘Surely every knee will bow to me, every tongue will solemnly affirm; ³ 

At that time ¹  the sovereign master will use a razor hired from the banks of the Euphrates River, ²  the king of Assyria, to shave the head and the pubic hair; ³  it will also shave off the beard.

Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you; indeed, ¹  every morning it will sweep by, it will come through during the day and the night.” ²  When this announcement is understood, it will cause nothing but terror.

The Lord emerges like a hero, like a warrior he inspires himself for battle; ¹  he shouts, yes, he yells, he shows his enemies his power. ² 

For my sake alone ¹  I will act, for how can I allow my name to be defiled? ²  I will not share my glory with anyone else! ³ 

“They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, ¹  and the fire that consumes them will not die out. ²  All people will find the sight abhorrent.” ³ 

My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest, as one gathers up abandoned eggs, I gathered up the whole earth. There was no wing flapping, or open mouth chirping.” ¹