Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, ¹  you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!”

I will disturb ¹  many peoples, when I bring about your destruction among the nations, among countries you do not know.

I will shoot against them deadly, ¹  destructive ²  arrows of famine, ³  which I will shoot to destroy you. ⁴  I will prolong a famine on you and will remove the bread supply. ⁵ 

I will pour out my anger on you; the fire of my fury I will blow on you. I will hand you over to brutal men, who are skilled in destruction.

“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Put away violence and destruction, and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people, ¹  declares the sovereign Lord.

You will be ¹  an object of scorn and taunting, ²  a prime example of destruction ³  among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury. ⁴  I, the Lord, have spoken!

Terror ¹  is coming! They will seek peace, but find none.

Yet I had pity on ¹  them and did not destroy them, so I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.

A total ruin I will make it! ¹  It will come to an end when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.’ ² 

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines ¹  have exacted merciless revenge, ²  showing intense scorn ³  in their effort to destroy Judah ⁴  with unrelenting hostility. ⁵ 

Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders.

It was like the vision I saw when he ¹  came to destroy the city, and the vision I saw by the Kebar River. I threw myself face down.

You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it.

“‘But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands. ¹ 

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: A disaster ¹  – a one-of-a-kind ²  disaster – is coming!

“Look, the day! Look, it is coming! Doom has gone out! The staff has budded, pride has blossomed!

This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit but have seen nothing!

“‘After all of your evil – “Woe! Woe to you!” declares the sovereign Lord –

Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit.