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Lament for Babylon

¹ "^(C1)Come down and sit in the dust,
O ^(C2)virgin ^(C3)daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no longer be called ^(C4)tender and delicate.

² "Take the ^(C1)millstones and ^(C2)grind flour.
Uncover your ^(C3)veil, ^(C4)strip off the skirt,
Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.

³ "Your ^(C1)nakedness will be uncovered;
Your reproach also will be seen;
I will ^(C2)take vengeance and will not ^(F1)spare a man."

⁴ Our ^(C1)Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.

⁵ "^(C1)Sit silently, and go into ^(C2)darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans,
For you will no longer be called
The ^(C3)queen of ^(C4)kingdoms.

⁶ "I was furious with My people;
I profaned My inheritance
And gave them into your hand.
You did not show compassion to them,
On the ^(C1)aged you made your yoke very heavy.

⁷ "Yet you said, 'I will be a ^(C1)queen forever.'
These things you did not ^(C2)put on your heart
Nor remember the ^(C3)outcome of ^(F1)them.

⁸ "So now, hear this, you ^(C1)sensual one,
Who ^(C2)sits securely,
Who says in ^(F1)your heart,
'^(C3)I am, and there is no one besides me.
I will ^(C4)not sit as a widow,
Nor know loss of children.'

⁹ "But these ^(C1)two things will come on you ^(C2)suddenly in one day:
Loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in full measure
In spite of your many ^(C3)sorceries,
In spite of the great might of your spells.

¹⁰ "You felt ^(C1)secure in your evil and said,
'^(C2)No one sees me,'
Your ^(C3)wisdom and your knowledge ^(F1)have turned you astray;
So you have said in your heart,
'^(C4)I am, and there is no one besides me.'

¹¹ "But ^(C1)evil will come on you
Which you will not know how to charm away;
And disaster will fall on you
For which you cannot atone;
And ^(C2)destruction about which you do not know
Will come on you ^(C3)suddenly.

¹² "Stand fast now in your ^(C1)spells
And in your many sorceries
With which you have labored from your youth;
Perhaps you will be able to profit;
Perhaps you may cause trembling.

¹³ "You are ^(C1)wearied with your many counsels;
Let now the ^(C2)astrologers,
Those who behold visions by the stars,
Those who predict by the new moons,
Stand up and ^(C3)save you from what will come upon you.

¹⁴ "Behold, they have become ^(C1)like stubble,
^(C2)Fire burns them;
They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame;
There will be ^(C3)no coal to warm by
Nor a fire to sit before!

¹⁵ "Thus they have become for you, those among whom you have labored,
Who have ^(C1)traded with you from your youth;
Each has wandered in his own ^(F1)way;
There is ^(C2)none to save you.