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¹ Behold, YHWH is emptying the earth, || And is making it desolate, || And has overturned [it on] its face, || And has scattered its inhabitants.² And it has been—as a people so a priest, || As the servant so his master, || As the maidservant so her mistress, || As the buyer so the seller, || As the lender so the borrower, || As the usurer so he who is lifting [it] on himself.³ The earth is utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled, || For YHWH has spoken this word:⁴ The earth has mourned, faded, || The world has languished, faded, || They have languished—the high place of the people of the earth.⁵ And the earth has been defiled under its inhabitants, || Because they have transgressed laws, || They have changed a statute, || They have made void a perpetual covenant.⁶ Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, || And the inhabitants in it become desolate, || Therefore inhabitants of the earth have been consumed, || And few men have been left.⁷ The new wine has mourned, the vine languished, || All the joyful of heart have sighed.⁸ The joy of tambourines has ceased, || The noise of exulting ones has ceased, || The joy of a harp has ceased.⁹ They do not drink wine with a song, || Strong drink is bitter to those drinking it.¹⁰ It was broken down—a city of emptiness, || Every house has been shut from [its] entrance.¹¹ In out-places [is] a cry over the wine, || All joy has been darkened, || The joy of the land has been removed.¹² Desolation [is] left in the city, || And the gate is struck [with] ruin.

¹³ When thus it is in the heart of the land, || In the midst of the peoples, || As the surrounding of the olive, || As gleanings when harvest has been finished,¹⁴ They lift up their voice, || They sing of the excellence of YHWH, || They have cried aloud from the sea.¹⁵ Therefore honor YHWH in prosperity, || In islands of the sea, the Name of YHWH, God of Israel.

¹⁶ From the skirt of the earth we heard songs, || The desire of the righteous. And I say, "Leanness [is] to me, || Leanness [is] to me, woe [is] to me." Treacherous dealers dealt treacherously, || Indeed, treachery, treacherous dealers dealt treacherously.¹⁷ Fear, and a snare, and a trap, || [Are] on you, O inhabitant of the earth.¹⁸ And it has come to pass, || He who is fleeing from the noise of the fear falls into the snare, || And he who is coming up from the midst of the snare, || Is captured by the trap, || For windows have been opened on high, || And foundations of the earth are shaken.¹⁹ The earth has been utterly broken down, || The earth has been utterly broken, || The earth has been utterly moved.²⁰ The earth staggers greatly as a drunkard, || And it has been moved as a lodge, || And its transgression has been heavy on it, || And it has fallen, and does not add to rise.²¹ And it has come to pass in that day, || YHWH lays a charge on the host of the high place in the high place, || And on the kings of the earth on the earth.²² And they have been gathered—A gathering of bound ones in a pit, || And they have been shut up in a prison, || And after a multitude of days are inspected.²³ And the moon has been confounded, || And the sun has been ashamed, || For YHWH of Hosts has reigned || In Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, || And before His elderly—glory!