On the poplars in her midst we hang our harps,

Her princes ¹  within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made many women widows ²  within it.

I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it.

Now the city was spread out ¹  and large, and there were not a lot of people in it. ²  At that time houses had not been rebuilt.

They have prepared a net to trap me; ¹  I am discouraged. ²  They have dug a pit for me. ³  They will fall ⁴  into it! (Selah)

They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. ¹  Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.” ² 

Destructive forces will come against her horses and her ¹  chariots. Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her; ²  they will be as frightened as women! ³  Destructive forces will come against her treasures; they will be taken away as plunder!

“So the time will certainly come ¹  when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her whole land will be put to shame. All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst. ² 

Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The corpses you have dumped ¹  in the midst of the city ²  are the meat, and this city ³  is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it. ⁴ 

This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not ¹  be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel.

I will break down the wall you coated with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. When it falls you will be destroyed beneath it, ¹  and you will know that I am the Lord.

Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, ¹  and Job, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the sovereign Lord.

Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, they could not save their own sons or daughters – they would save only their own lives.

Then say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: O city, who spills blood within herself (which brings on her doom), ¹  and who makes herself idols (which results in impurity),

As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”

Take the choice bone of the flock, heap up bones under it; boil rapidly, and boil its bones in it.

For her blood was in it; she poured it on an exposed rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it up with dust.

Set the empty pot on the coals, ¹  until it becomes hot and its copper glows, until its uncleanness melts within it and its rot ²  is consumed.

I will send a plague into the city ¹  and bloodshed into its streets; the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ²  from every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

“The remainder, one and two-thirds miles ¹  in width and eight and a quarter miles ²  in length, will be for common use by the city, for houses and for open space. The city will be in the middle of it;