For a moth will eat away at them like clothes; a clothes moth will devour them like wool. But the vindication I provide ¹  will be permanent; the deliverance I give will last.”

But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured ¹  by the sword.” Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ² 

the mighty men and warriors, judges and prophets, omen readers and leaders, ¹ 

So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail, both the shoots and stalk ¹  in one day.

As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ¹ 

For very soon my fury ¹  will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction.”

Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment ¹  is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. ² 

Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth and leave it in ruins; he will mar its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

I will lay siege to you on all sides; ¹  I will besiege you with troops; ²  I will raise siege works against you.

For a short time your special ¹  nation possessed a land, ²  but then our adversaries knocked down ³  your holy sanctuary.

I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said, “Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated,

For their oppressive yoke and the club that strikes their shoulders, the cudgel the oppressor uses on them, ¹  you have shattered, as in the day of Midian’s defeat. ² 

The light of Israel ¹  will become a fire, their Holy One ²  will become a flame; it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s ³  briers and his thorns in one day.

For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as ¹  the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. ²  Destruction has been decreed; ³  just punishment ⁴  is about to engulf you. ⁵ 

Look, the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power. ¹  The tallest trees ²  will be cut down, the loftiest ones will be brought low.

¹ On a bare hill raise a signal flag, shout to them, wave your hand, so they might enter the gates of the princes!

you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: ¹  “Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility ²  has ceased!

Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! ¹  You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror ²  of the nations! ³ 

So I say: “Don’t look at me! ¹  I am weeping bitterly. Don’t try ²  to console me concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” ³ 

The Lord who commands armies planned it – to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty, ¹  to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.