[1] Go down and sit in the dust, virgin Daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter Chaldea, because they will no longer call you tender and pampered. [2] Take the millstones and grind flour! Remove your veil, strip off your robe, expose your thighs, wade through the rivers! [3] Your nakedness will be exposed, and your disgrace will be seen. I will take vengeance; no one will intervene. [4] Our redeemer has spoken; the LORD of heavenly forces is his name, the holy one of Israel. [5] Sit silent and go into darkness, Daughter Chaldea, because they will no longer call you Queen of Kingdoms. [6] I was enraged with my people; I made my inheritance impure and put them under your power. You took no pity on them. You made your yoke heavy even on the elderly. [7] You said, “I’m forever; I’m the eternal mistress.” You didn’t stop and think; you didn’t consider the outcome. [8] So listen to this, luxuriant one who sits secure, who says in her heart, I’m utterly unique; I’ll never sit as a widow; I’ll never know childlessness: [9] Both of these will happen to you at once, on a single day: childlessness and widowhood will envelop you in full measure, despite your many sorceries, despite your very powerful spells. [10] You felt secure in your evil; you said, “No one sees me.” Your wisdom and knowledge spun you around. You thought to yourself, I and no one else. [11] Now evil will come against you, something you won’t anticipate. A curse will fall upon you, something you won’t be able to dispel. Destruction will come upon you suddenly, something you won’t foresee. [12] Continue with your enchantments, and with your many spells, which you have practiced since childhood. Maybe you will be able to succeed. Maybe you will inspire terror. [13] You are weary from all your consultations; let the astrologers stand up and save you, those who gaze at the stars, and predict what will happen to you at each new moon. [14] They are just like stubble; the fire burns them. They won’t save themselves from the powerful flames. This is no warming ember or fire to sit beside. [15] Those with whom you have wearied yourself are like this, those with whom you were in business from your youth: each has wandered off on their own way; none will save you.
