I looked and saw that there were no more people, ¹  and that all the birds in the sky had flown away.

Can people make their own gods? No, what they make are not gods at all.” ¹ 

The Lord says to Edom, ¹  “I will certainly make you small among nations. I will make you despised by all humankind.

Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny. ¹  It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them. ² 

I will kill everything living in Jerusalem, ¹  people and animals alike! They will die from terrible diseases.

Rather, each person will die for his own sins. The teeth of the person who eats the sour grapes will themselves grow numb. ¹ 

The Lord who rules over all ¹  has solemnly sworn, ²  ‘I will fill your land with enemy soldiers. They will swarm over it like locusts. ³  They will raise up shouts of victory over it.’

“I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘You and your people are saying ²  about this place, “It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it.” That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem ³  will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places.

Tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord says, “The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere like manure scattered on a field. They will lie scattered on the ground like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’” ¹ 

All these idolaters ¹  will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. ²  There is no breath in any of those idols. ³ 

The Lord says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, ²  and whose hearts ³  have turned away from the Lord.

“Indeed, a time is coming,” ¹  says the Lord, ²  “when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah. ³ 

You plan great things and you do mighty deeds. ¹  You see everything people do. ²  You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do. ³ 

You did miracles and amazing deeds in the land of Egypt which have had lasting effect. By this means you gained both in Israel and among humankind a renown that lasts to this day. ¹ 

You and your people ¹  are saying that this land will become desolate, uninhabited by either people or animals. You are saying that it will be handed over to the Babylonians. ²  But fields ³  will again be bought in this land. ⁴ 

Edom will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns that were around them. No one will live there. No human being will settle in it,” says the Lord.

“Hazor will become a permanent wasteland, a place where only jackals live. ¹  No one will live there. No human being will settle in it.” ² 

All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. There is no breath in any of those idols.

The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins. She has become a dry and barren desert. No one lives in those towns any more. No one even passes through them. ¹ 

They did not ask: ‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt, who brought us through the wilderness, through a land of desert sands and rift valleys, through a land of drought and deep darkness, ¹  through a land in which no one travels, and where no one lives?’ ²