## Lament for Babylon 

###### 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 flour. Uncover your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers. 

###### 3
Your nakedness will be uncovered; Your reproach also will be seen; I will take vengeance and will not spare a man." 

###### 4
Our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel. 

###### 5
"Sit silently, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For you will no longer be called The queen of kingdoms. 

###### 6
I was furious with My people; I profaned My inheritance And gave them into your hand. You did not show compassion to them, On the aged you made your yoke very heavy. 

###### 7
Yet you said, 'I will be a queen forever.' These things you did not put on your heart Nor remember the outcome of them. 

###### 8
"So now, hear this, you sensual one, Who sits securely, Who says in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow, Nor know loss of children.' 

###### 9
But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure In spite of your many sorceries, In spite of the great might of your spells. 

###### 10
You felt secure in your evil and said, 'No one sees me,' Your wisdom and your knowledge have turned you _astray_; So you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one besides me.' 

###### 11
But evil will come on you Which you will not know how to charm away; And disaster will fall on you For which you cannot atone; And destruction about which you do not know Will come on you suddenly. 

###### 12
"Stand _fast_ now in your spells And in your many sorceries With which you have labored from your youth; Perhaps you will be able to profit; Perhaps you may cause trembling. 

###### 13
You are wearied with your many counsels; Let now the astrologers, Those who behold _visions_ by the stars, Those who predict by the new moons, Stand up and save you from what will come upon you. 

###### 14
Behold, they have become like stubble, Fire burns them; They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame; There will be no coal to warm by _Nor_ a fire to sit before! 

###### 15
Thus they have become for you, those among whom you have labored, Who have traded with you from your youth; Each has wandered in his own way; There is none to save you.