2 O Jerusalem, you are my beautiful and delicate daughter—but I will destroy you!
3 Enemies will surround you, like shepherds camped around the city.Each chooses a place for his troops to devour.
4 They shout, ‘Prepare for battle!Attack at noon!’‘No, it’s too late; the day is fading,and the evening shadows are falling.’
5 ‘Well then, let’s attack at nightand destroy her palaces!’”
6 This is what the lord of Heaven’s Armies says:“Cut down the trees for battering rams.Build siege ramps against the walls of Jerusalem.This is the city to be punished,for she is wicked through and through.
7 She spouts evil like a fountain.Her streets echo with the sounds of violence and destruction.I always see her sickness and sores.
8 Listen to this warning, Jerusalem,or I will turn from you in disgust.Listen, or I will turn you into a heap of ruins,a land where no one lives.”