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 thou shalt no longer be called tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and grind meal; uncover thy locks, remove the shoes from thy feet, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered and thy shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not help any man.
4 As for our redeemer, the Lord of the hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit, be silent, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no longer be called, The lady of kingdoms.
6 I was wroth with my people; I have profaned my inheritance and given them into thine hand; thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient thou hast very heavily laid thy yoke.
7 And thou didst say, I shall be a lady for ever. Until now thou hast not laid these things to heart, neither didst thou remember thy latter end.
8 Therefore now hear this, thou delicate one, that dost sit in confidence and say in thine heart, I am, and no one else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I be fatherless.
9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day; the loss of thy fathers and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, No one sees me. Thy wisdom and thine own knowledge; it has deceived thee; for thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and no one else beside me.
11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from where it rises; and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and destruction shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
12 Stand now with thine enchantments and with the multitude of thy sorceries in which thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to better thyself, if so be thou may prevail.
13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now those that contemplate the heavens, those that speculate regarding the stars, those that teach the courses of the moon, stand up and defend thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver their lives from the hand of the flame; there shall not be a coal left to warm at, nor light to sit before it.
15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander each one to his own way; there shall be no one to save thee.