The Babylonian Exile

In his boughs made a nest hath every fowl of the heavens, And under his branches brought forth hath every beast of the field, And in his shade dwell do all great nations.

And he is fair in his greatness, In the length of his thin shoots, For his root hath been by great waters.

Cedars have not hid him in the garden of God, Firs have not been like unto his boughs, And chesnut-trees have not been as his branches, No tree in the garden of God hath been like unto him in his beauty,

Fair I have made him in the multitude of his thin shoots, And envy him do all trees of Eden that are in the garden of God.

Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because that thou hast been high in stature, And he yieldeth his foliage between thickets, And high is his heart in his haughtiness,

I give him into the hand of a god of nations, He dealeth sorely with him, In his wickedness I have cast him out.

And cut him off do strangers, The terrible of nations, and they leave him, On the mountains and in all valleys have his thin shoots fallen, And broken are his boughs at all streams of the land, And go down from his shade do all peoples of the land, and they leave him.

On his ruin dwell do all fowls of the heavens, And on his boughs have been all the beasts of the field,

In order that none of the trees of the waters May become haughty because of their stature, Nor give their foliage between thickets, Nor any drinking waters stand up unto them in their haughtiness, For all of them are given up to death, Unto the earth--the lower part, In the midst of the sons of men, Unto those going down to the pit.

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: In the day of his going down to sheol I have caused mourning, I have covered for him the deep, and diminish its flowings, And restrained are many waters, And I make Lebanon black for him, And all trees of the field have been covered for him.

From the sound of his fall I have caused nations to shake, In My causing him to go down to sheol, With those going down to the pit, And comforted in the earth--the lower part, are all trees of Eden, The choice and the good of Lebanon, All drinking waters.

Also they with him have gone down to sheol, Unto the pierced of the sword, And--his arm--they dwelt in his shade in the midst of nations.

Unto whom hast thou been thus like, In honour and in greatness among the trees of Eden, And thou hast been brought down with the trees of Eden, Unto the earth--the lower part, In the midst of the uncircumcised thou liest, With the pierced of the sword? It is Pharaoh, and all his multitude, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

And it cometh to pass, in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first of the month, hath a word of Jehovah been unto me, saying,

`Son of man, lift up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and thou hast said unto him: A young lion of nations thou hast been like, And thou art as a dragon in the seas, And thou comest forth with thy flowings, And dost trouble the waters with thy feet, And thou dost foul their flowings.

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: And--I have spread out for thee My net, With an assembly of many peoples, And they have brought thee up in My net.

And I have left thee in the land, On the face of the field I do cast thee out, And have caused to dwell upon thee every fowl of the heavens, And have satisfied out of thee the beasts of the whole earth.

And I have put thy flesh on the mountains, And filled the valleys with thy hugeness,

And watered the land with thy flowing, From thy blood--unto the mountains, And streams are filled from thee.

And in quenching thee I have covered the heavens, And have made black their stars, The sun with a cloud I do cover, And the moon causeth not its light to shine.

All luminaries of light in the heavens, I make black over thee, And I have given darkness over thy land, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah,

And I have vexed the heart of many peoples, In My bringing in thy destruction among nations, Unto lands that thou hast not known.

And I have made many peoples astonished at thee, And their kings are afraid at thee with trembling, In My brandishing My sword before their faces, And they have trembled every moment, Each for his life--in the day of thy fall.

For thus said the Lord Jehovah: A sword of the king of Babylon entereth thee,

By swords of the mighty I cause thy multitude to fall, The terrible of nations--all of them, And they have spoiled the excellency of Egypt, And destroyed hath been all her multitude.