¶ Come down¹, and sit in the dust, O virgin² daughter³ of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is⁴ no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt⁵ no more be called tender and delicate.

Take the millstones⁶, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare⁷ the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take⁸ vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

As for our redeemer⁹, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

Sit thou silent¹⁰, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for¹¹ thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.

I was wroth¹² with my people, I have polluted¹³ mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst¹⁴ shew them no mercy; upon¹⁵ the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

¶ And thou saidst¹⁶, I shall be a lady for ever: so that¹⁷ thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

Therefore hear now this, thou that art given¹⁸ to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am,¹⁹ and none else beside me; I shall not²⁰ sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

But these two²¹ things shall come to thee in a moment²² in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come²³ upon thee in their perfection for the multitude²⁴ of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.

¶ For thou hast trusted²⁵ in thy wickedness: thou hast said²⁶, None seeth me. Thy wisdom²⁷ and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee;²⁸ and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know²⁹ from whence it riseth³⁰: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off³¹: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

³²Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

Thou art wearied³³ in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now³⁴ the astrologers, the stargazers³⁵, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

Behold, they shall³⁶ be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall³⁸ not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants³⁹, from thy youth: they shall⁴⁰ wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.