1. ‘Go down, sit in the dust,Virgin Daughter Babylon;sit on the ground without a throne,queen city of the Babylonians.No more will you be calledtender or delicate.
2. Take millstones and grind flour;take off your veil.Lift up your skirts, bare your legs,and wade through the streams.
3. Your nakedness will be exposedand your shame uncovered.I will take vengeance;I will spare no one.’
4. Our Redeemer – the Lord Almighty is his name –is the Holy One of Israel.
5. ‘Sit in silence, go into darkness,queen city of the Babylonians;no more will you be calledqueen of kingdoms.
6. I was angry with my peopleand desecrated my inheritance;I gave them into your hand,and you showed them no mercy.Even on the agedyou laid a very heavy yoke.
7. You said, “I am for ever –the eternal queen!”But you did not consider these thingsor reflect on what might happen.
8. ‘Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure,lounging in your securityand saying to yourself,“I am, and there is none besides me.I will never be a widowor suffer the loss of children.”
9. Both of these will overtake youin a moment, on a single day:loss of children and widowhood.They will come upon you in full measure,in spite of your many sorceriesand all your potent spells.