For the land is full of people unfaithful to him. ¹  They live wicked lives and they misuse their power. ²  So the land is dried up ³  because it is under his curse. ⁴  The pastures in the wilderness are withered.

The people of the earth will quake when they hear Babylon has been captured. Her cries of anguish will be heard by the other nations.” ¹ 

But he ¹  left behind some of the poor ²  and gave them fields and vineyards.

Then the Lord said, “This means ¹  destruction will break out from the north on all who live in the land.

Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land ¹  through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. ² 

“I looked at the land and saw ¹  that it was an empty wasteland. ²  I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

All this will happen because the Lord said, ¹  “The whole land will be desolate; however, I will not completely destroy it.

Then the dead bodies of these people will be left on the ground for the birds and wild animals to eat. ¹  There will not be any survivors to scare them away.

The Lord continued, ¹  “In every town in the land I will purge them like straw blown away by the wind. ²  I will destroy my people. I will kill off their children. I will do so because they did not change their behavior. ³ 

You will never come back to this land to which you will long to return!” ¹ 

Then some of the elders of Judah ¹  stepped forward and spoke to all the people gathered there. They said,

The people of the earth will quake when they hear of their downfall. ¹  Their cries of anguish will be heard all the way to the Gulf of Aqaba. ² 

Babylon hammered the whole world to pieces. But see how that ‘hammer’ has been broken and shattered! ¹  See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations!

“See how Babylon ¹  has been captured! See how the pride of the whole earth has been taken! See what an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations! ² 

“Babylon must fall ¹  because of the Israelites she has killed, ²  just as the earth’s mortally wounded fell because of Babylon. ³ 

By the ninth day of the fourth month ¹  the famine in the city was so severe the residents ²  had no food.

I, the Lord, ¹  hereby promise to make you ²  as strong as a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. You will be able to stand up against all who live in ³  the land, including the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and all the people of the land.

So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.’”

Those who have been killed by the Lord at that time will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried. ¹  Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.

“I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, ¹  and I give it to whomever I see fit. ²