The Holy Bible: Revised Common Version

1  "Come down, and sit in the dust,/
O virgin daughter of Babylon./
Sit on the ground without a throne,/
O daughter of the Chaldeans./
For you shall no longer be called/
tender and delicate.

2  Take the millstones and grind meal./
Remove your veil./
Make the leg bare. Uncover the thigh./
Pass over the rivers.

3  Your nakedness shall be uncovered./
Even your shame shall be seen./
I will take vengeance,/
and I will not meet you as a man."

4  As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name,/
the Holy One of Israel.

5  "Sit silent, and get into darkness,/
O daughter of the Chaldeans,/
for you shall no longer be called,/
The Mistress of Kingdoms.

6  I was angry with my people./
I have polluted my inheritance/
and given them into your hand./
You showed them no mercy./
Upon the ancient/
you have very heavily laid your yoke.

7  And you said,/
'I shall be a mistress forever,'/
so that you did not lay these things to your heart,/
neither remembered its latter end.

8  Now therefore, hear this, you who are given to pleasures,/
who dwell carelessly,/
who say in your heart,/
'I am, and no one else besides me./
I shall not sit as a widow,/
neither shall I know the loss of children.'

9  But these two things shall come to you/
in a moment in one day:/
the loss of children and widowhood./
They shall come upon you in their perfection,/
for the multitude of your sorceries/
and for the great abundance of your enchantments.

10 For you have trusted in your wickedness./
You have said, 'No one sees me.'/
Your wisdom and your knowledge,/
it has perverted you./
And you have said in your heart,/
'I am, and no one else besides me.'

11 Therefore, evil shall come upon you./
You shall not know from where it rises./
And mischief shall fall upon you./
You shall not be able to put it off./
And desolation shall come upon you suddenly,/
which you shall not know.

12 Stand now with your enchantments/
and with the multitude of your sorceries/
in which you have labored from your youth./
It may be you are able to profit./
Perhaps you may prevail.

13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels./
Now let the astrologers, the star-gazers,/
and the monthly prognosticators/
stand up and save you/
from these things that shall come upon you.

14 Behold, they shall be as stubble./
The fire shall burn them./
They shall not deliver themselves/
from the power of the flame./
There shall not be a coal to warm at,/
nor fire to sit before it.

15 Thus they shall be to you/
with whom you have labored,/
even your merchants, from your youth./
They shall each wander to his quarter./
No one shall save you."