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 called tender 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 exposed and 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 called queen of kingdoms.6 I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke.7 You said, 'I am forever — the eternal queen!' But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.8 "Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.'9 Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.10 You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me.'11 Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.12 "Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.13 All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.14 Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by.15 That is all they are to you — these you have dealt with and labored with since childhood. All of them go on in their error; there is not one that can save you.

1 [Descende, sede in pulvere,virgo filia Babylon :sede in terra ; non est soliumfili Chaldorum,quia ultra non vocaberismollis et tenera.2 Tolle molam, et mole farinam ;denuda turpitudinem tuam ;discooperi humerum, revela crura,transi flumina.3 Revelabitur ignominia tua,et videbitur opprobrium tuum ;ultionem capiam, et non resistet mihi homo.4 Redemptor noster, Dominus exercituum nomen illius,Sanctus Isral.5 Sede tacens, et intra in tenebras,filia Chaldorum,quia non vocaberis ultradomina regnorum.6 Iratus sum super populum meum :contaminavi hreditatem meam,et dedi eos in manu tua :non posuisti eis misericordias ;super senem aggravasti jugum tuum valde.7 Et dixisti : In sempiternum ero domina.Non posuisti hc super cor tuum,neque recordata es novissimi tui.8 Et nunc audi hc delicata,et habitans confidenter,qu dicis in corde tuo :Ego sum, et non est prter me amplius ;non sedebo vidua,et ignorabo sterilitatem.9 Venient tibi duo hcsubito in die una,sterilitas et viduitas :universa venerunt super te,propter multitudinem maleficiorum tuorum,et propter duritiam incantatorum tuorum vehementem.10 Et fiduciam habuisti in malitia tua,et dixisti : Non est qui videat me.Sapientia tua et scientia tua,hc decepit te.Et dixisti in corde tuo :Ego sum, et prter me non est altera.11 Veniet super te malum,et nescies ortum ejus ;et irruet super te calamitasquam non poteris expiare ;veniet super te repente miseriaquam nescies.12 Sta cum incantatoribus tuiset cum multitudine maleficiorum tuorum,in quibus laborasti ab adolescentia tua,si forte quod prosit tibi,aut si possis fieri fortior.13 Defecisti in multitudine consiliorum tuorum.Stent, et salvent teaugures cli,qui contemplabantur sidera,et supputabant menses,ut ex eis annuntiarent ventura tibi.14 Ecce facti sunt quasi stipula,ignis combussit eos ;non liberabunt animam suamde manu flamm ;non sunt prun quibus calefiant,nec focus ut sedeant ad eum.15 Sic facta sunt tibi in quibuscumque laboraveras :negotiatores tui ab adolescentia tua,unusquisque in via sua erraverunt ;non est qui salvet te.]