Men bow down to them in homage, they lie flat on the ground in worship. ¹  Don’t spare them! ² 

Men will be humiliated, they will be brought low; the proud will be brought low. ¹ 

¹ As for all the kings of the nations, all of them ²  lie down in splendor, ³  each in his own tomb. ⁴ 

They help one another; ¹  one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’

The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight. ¹  Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ² 

At that time ¹  a man will keep alive a young cow from the herd and a couple of goats.

“I will provoke civil strife in Egypt, ¹  brothers will fight with each other, as will neighbors, cities, and kingdoms. ² 

I look, but there is no one, among them there is no one who serves as an adviser, that I might ask questions and receive answers.

They will disappoint you, ¹  those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. ²  Each strays off in his own direction, ³  leaving no one to rescue you.”

All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ¹ 

Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. ¹  Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

Indeed, a man will grab his brother right in his father’s house ¹  and say, ²  ‘You own a coat – you be our leader! This heap of ruins will be under your control.’ ³ 

Because of the anger of the Lord who commands armies, the land was scorched, ¹  and the people became fuel for the fire. ²  People had no compassion on one another. ³ 

They devoured ¹  on the right, but were still hungry, they ate on the left, but were not satisfied. People even ate ²  the flesh of their own arm! ³ 

They panic – cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red. ¹ 

Like a frightened gazelle ¹  or a sheep with no shepherd, each will turn toward home, ²  each will run to his homeland.

Look what’s coming! A charioteer, a team of horses.” ¹  When questioned, he replies, ²  “Babylon has fallen, fallen! All the idols of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”

For at that time ¹  everyone will get rid of ²  the silver and gold idols your hands sinfully made. ³ 

Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made; ¹  a sword not made by humankind will destroy them. ²  They will run away from this sword ³  and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.

Each of them ¹  will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.