The Babylonian Exile

That thou dost build to thee an arch, And dost make to thee a high place in every broad place.

At every head of the way thou hast built thy high place, And thou dost make thy beauty abominable, And dost open wide thy feet to every passer by, And dost multiply thy whoredoms,

And dost go a-whoring unto sons of Egypt, Thy neighbours--great of appetite! And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms, To provoke Me to anger.

And lo, I have stretched out My hand against thee, And I diminish thy portion, And give thee to the desire of those hating thee, The daughters of the Philistines, Who are ashamed of thy wicked way.

And thou goest a-whoring unto sons of Asshur, Without thy being satisfied, And thou dost go a-whoring with them, And also--thou hast not been satisfied.

And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms On the land of Canaan--toward Chaldea, And even with this thou hast not been satisfied.

How weak is thy heart, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In thy doing all these, The work of a domineering whorish woman.

In thy building thine arch at the head of every way, Thy high place thou hast made in every broad place, And--hast not been as a whore deriding a gift.

The wife who committeth adultery--Under her husband--doth receive strangers.

To all whores they give a gift, And--thou hast given thy gifts to all thy lovers, And dost bribe them to come in unto thee, From round about--in thy whoredoms.

And the contrary is in thee from women in thy whoredoms, That after thee none doth go a-whoring; And in thy giving a gift, And a gift hath not been given to thee; And thou art become contrary.

Therefore, O whore, hear a word of Jehovah,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of thy brass being poured forth, And thy nakedness is revealed in thy whoredoms near thy lovers, And near all the idols of thy abominations, And according to the blood of thy sons, Whom thou hast given to them;

Therefore, lo, I am assembling all thy lovers, To whom thou hast been sweet, And all whom thou hast loved, Besides all whom thou hast hated; And I have assembled them by thee round about, And have revealed thy nakedness to them, And they have seen all thy nakedness.

And I have judged thee--judgments of adulteresses, And of women shedding blood, And have given thee blood, fury, and jealousy.

And I have given thee into their hand, And they have thrown down thine arch, And they have broken down thy high places, And they have stript thee of thy garments, And they have taken thy beauteous vessels, And they have left thee naked and bare.

And have caused an assembly to come up against thee, And stoned thee with stones, And thrust thee through with their swords,

And burnt thy houses with fire, And done in thee judgments before the eyes of many women, And I have caused thee to cease from going a-whoring, And also a gift thou givest no more.

And I have caused My fury against thee to rest, And My jealousy hath turned aside from thee, And I have been quiet, and I am not angry any more.

Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, And dost give trouble to Me in all these, Lo, even I also thy way at first gave up, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And I did not this thought for all thine abominations.

Lo, every one using a simile, Doth use a simile concerning thee, saying: As the mother--her daughter!

Thy mother's daughter thou art , Loathing her husband and her sons, And thy sisters' sister thou art , Who loathed their husbands and their sons, Your mother is a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, Who is dwelling at thy left hand, And thy younger sister, who is dwelling on thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

And--in their ways thou hast not walked, And according to their abominations done, As a little thing it hath been loathed, And thou dost more corruptly than they in all thy ways.

I live--an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister hath not done--she and her daughters--As thou hast done--thou and thy daughters.