1 Step down and take your seat in the dust {afar: symbol of humiliation}, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground—without a throne {kisse: seat of authority}—daughter of the Chaldeans. For they will no longer call you tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and grind meal; uncover your locks {tsammatekh: hair bindings}, lift the hem, bare the thigh, uncover the leg, and pass over the rivers {neharot: water barriers}.
3 Your nakedness will be uncovered, and your disgrace {kherpatekh: public dishonoring} will be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one {adam: any person}.
4 Our Redeemer {go’alenu: kinsman-redeemer}—the LORD of hosts {YHWH tseva’ot, Supreme Commander} is His name; He is the Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit in silence and enter into darkness {choshekh: utter obscurity}, daughter of the Chaldeans {bat-kasdim: Chaldean origin}, for you will no longer be called lady of kingdoms.
6 I {YHWH, Disciplining Judge} was angry with My people, I profaned My inheritance {nachalah: possession received}, and I gave them into your hand. You showed them no compassion; upon the old you laid a very heavy yoke.
7 And you said, “I will be a lady forever.” Yet you did not set these things upon your heart {libekh: innermost thoughts}, nor did you remember her end {acharitah: final destiny}.
8 And now hear this, O tender one {adinah: tender woman} who dwells in security and says in her heart, “I am, and there is none besides me; I shall not sit as a widow nor know the loss of children {shekhol: loss of children}.”
9 And these two disasters will come upon you in a moment, in one day: loss of children and widowhood; they will come upon you in full measure because of the abundance of your sorceries {keshafayikh: occult practices} and because of the great power of your spells {chavarayikh: incantations}.
10 And you trusted in your wickedness {ra'a: intentional moral evil or harm}; you said, “No one sees me.” Your wisdom {chokhmah: practical skill and cunning} and your knowledge has led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is none besides me.”
11 So evil {ra’ah: great disaster} will come upon you—you will not know its dawning; and calamity {hovah: severe destruction} will fall upon you—you will not be able to atone for it; and suddenly devastation will come upon you—you will not know when it arrives.
12 Stand now in your alliances {baḥavarayikh: occult alliances} and in the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you will be able to benefit, perhaps you may inspire terror {ta‘arotzi: strike terror}.
13 You are wearied by the multitude of your counsels {atsatayikh: strategic plans}. Let them stand now and save you—those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who make known at the new moons {lechodashim: lunar cycle markers} what shall come upon you.
14 Behold, they have become like stubble {qash: dry stalks}; fire has burned them. They will not deliver their souls {nefesh: life essence} from the hand of the flame. There is no ember for warming, nor a fire before which one may sit.
15 So will they be for you, those with whom you labored {yagaat: hard toil}—your merchants from your youth; each will wander to his own side—there is no one to save you {moshieikh: rescuing one}.