So,” the Lord God ¹  says, “my raging fury will be poured out on this land. ²  It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops. ³  And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished.”

As a well continually pours out fresh water so it continually pours out wicked deeds. ¹  Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it. ²  All I see are sick and wounded people.’ ³ 

The women added, ¹  “We did indeed sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven. But it was with the full knowledge and approval of our husbands that we made cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her.” ² 

So my anger and my wrath were poured out and burned like a fire through the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. That is why they have become the desolate ruins that they are today.’

But ever since we stopped sacrificing and pouring out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven, we have been in great need. Our people have died in wars or of starvation.” ¹ 

For ¹  the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²  says, ‘If you go to Egypt, I will pour out my wrath on you just as I poured out my anger and wrath on the citizens of Jerusalem. ³  You will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. ⁴  You will never see this place again.’ ⁵ 

Children are gathering firewood, fathers are building fires with it, and women are mixing dough to bake cakes to offer to the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven. ¹  They are also pouring out drink offerings to other gods. They seem to do all this just ²  to trouble me.

The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem ¹  and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. ²  For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.” ³ 

The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies ¹  just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars ²  and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.’”

The Babylonian soldiers ¹  that are attacking this city will break into it and set it on fire. They will burn it down along with the houses where people have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods on their rooftops. ² 

The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘You women ¹  have confirmed by your actions what you vowed with your lips! You said, “We will certainly carry out our vows to sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.” Well, then fulfill your vows! Carry them out!’ ² 

“From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed. It has never been taken into exile. Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs, never poured out from one jar to another. They are like wine which tastes like it always did, whose aroma has remained unchanged. ¹ 

Instead we will do everything we vowed we would do. ¹  We will sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the goddess called the Queen of Heaven ²  just as we and our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders previously did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and had no troubles. ³ 

Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you. ¹  Vent it on the peoples ²  who do not worship you. ³  For they have destroyed the people of Jacob. ⁴  They have completely destroyed them ⁵  and left their homeland in utter ruin.

I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, ¹  I am tired of trying to hold it in.” The Lord answered, ²  “Vent it, then, ³  on the children who play in the street and on the young men who are gathered together. Husbands and wives are to be included, ⁴  as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

But the time is coming when I will send men against Moab who will empty it out. They will empty the towns of their people, then will lay those towns in ruins. ¹  I, the Lord, affirm it! ² 

So let their children die of starvation. Let them be cut down by the sword. ¹  Let their wives lose their husbands and children. Let the older men die of disease ²  and the younger men die by the sword in battle.

“Judgment will come on the cities on the high plain: ¹  on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,

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

For the Lord says, “I will now throw out those who live in this land. I will bring so much trouble on them that they will actually feel it.” ¹