All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour, all you wild animals in the forest!

Bel ¹  kneels down, Nebo ²  bends low. Their images weigh down animals and beasts. ³  Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. ⁴ 

Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there; ¹  wild goats will bleat to one another. ²  Yes, nocturnal animals ³  will rest there and make for themselves a nest. ⁴ 

They will all be left ¹  for the birds of the hills and the wild animals; ²  the birds will eat them during the summer, and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.

Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice; ¹  its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings. ² 

Wild animals will rest there, the ruined ¹  houses will be full of hyenas. ²  Ostriches will live there, wild goats will skip among the ruins. ³ 

When you enter my presence, do you actually think I want this – animals trampling on my courtyards? ¹ 

The wild animals of the desert honor me, the jackals and ostriches, because I put water in the desert and streams in the wilderness, to quench the thirst of my chosen people,

No lions will be there, no ferocious wild animals will be on it ¹  – they will not be found there. Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

Now I will inform you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, ¹  I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ² 

Look at the land of the Chaldeans, these people who have lost their identity! ¹  The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals. They erected their siege towers, ²  demolished ³  its fortresses, and turned it into a heap of ruins. ⁴ 

Owls and wild animals ¹  will live there, ²  all kinds of wild birds ³  will settle in it. The Lord ⁴  will stretch out over her the measuring line of ruin and the plumb line ⁵  of destruction. ⁶ 

Like an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, ¹  so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest. In this way ²  you guided your people, gaining for yourself an honored reputation. ³ 

This is a message ¹  about the animals in the Negev: Through a land of distress and danger, inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, ²  by snakes and darting adders, ³  they transport ⁴  their wealth on the backs of donkeys, their riches on the humps of camels, to a nation that cannot help them. ⁵ 

“I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals ¹  and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” ²  says the Lord who commands armies.

“Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” ¹  says the Lord. “I am stuffed with ²  burnt sacrifices of rams and the fat from steers. The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats I do not want. ³ 

But look, there is outright celebration! ¹  You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep, eat meat and drink wine. Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” ² 

For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded ¹  city is abandoned. Hill ²  and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. ³  Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there. ⁴ 

A wolf will reside ¹  with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, ²  as a small child leads them along.

The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they ¹  will acknowledge the Lord’s authority ²  at that time. ³  They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.