2 Kings 19:21

Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.

Yahweh says: “Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place.

What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is as big as the sea. Who can heal you?

‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.’

“Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while, and the time of harvest comes for her.”

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.

Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh.

“Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes.

Men will clap their hands at him, and will hiss him out of his place.

But I trust in your loving kindness. My heart rejoices in your salvation.

All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,

Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King.

Let Israel rejoice in him who made them. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

Her gates shall lament and mourn. She shall be desolate and sit on the ground.

This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

“An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.

For the hurt of the daughter of my people, I am hurt. I mourn. Dismay has taken hold of me.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters.

to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and shake his head.

They take up bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea. They ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Babylon.

Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed! Wail for her! Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed.

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which Yahweh has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord Yahweh.

“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it become strong to hold the sword.

There is no healing your wound, for your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you clap their hands over you; for who hasn’t felt your endless cruelty?

Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.

“Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.”

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.

Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,

Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”

They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations.

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.

I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul’s place, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you,

For you will save the afflicted people, but the arrogant eyes you will bring down.

We will triumph in your salvation. In the name of our God, we will set up our banners. May Yahweh grant all your requests.

My soul shall be joyful in Yahweh. It shall rejoice in his salvation.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines out.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.

Who can utter the mighty acts of Yahweh, or fully declare all his praise?

For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us.

this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

I myself am Yahweh. Besides me, there is no savior.

Behold, Yahweh has proclaimed to the end of the earth, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your salvation comes! Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him!’ ”

Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she gave birth to her children.

But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock has been taken captive.

“You shall say this word to them: “ ‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.

I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”

and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance; the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.

“You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you. He has destroyed your strongholds.

“For these things I weep. My eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.”

“They have heard that I sigh. There is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble. They are glad that you have done it. You will bring the day that you have proclaimed, and they will be like me.

My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,

For the Lord Yahweh says: “Because you have clapped your hands, stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the contempt of your soul against the land of Israel;

As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”

In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled.

For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

The voice of harpists, minstrels, flute players, and trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you. No craftsman, of whatever craft, will be found any more at all in you. The sound of a mill will be heard no more at all in you.

Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.

You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.

I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.

All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men called ‘The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth’?”

Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads,

“This will be the sign to you: This year, you will eat that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from that; and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit.

You will laugh at destruction and famine, neither will you be afraid of the animals of the earth.

When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.

that I may show all of your praise. I will rejoice in your salvation in the gates of the daughter of Zion.

Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who repays you, as you have done to us.

The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city.

Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish. There is no restraint any more.

He said, “You shall rejoice no more, you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim. Even there you will have no rest.”

“Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.

“Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.

Therefore Yahweh says: “Ask now among the nations, ‘Who has heard such things?’ The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

I will build you again, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel. You will again be adorned with your tambourines, and will go out in the dances of those who make merry.

Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt. You use many medicines in vain. There is no healing for you.

All majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture. They have gone without strength before the pursuer.

“The Lord has set at nothing all my mighty men within me. He has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden the virgin daughter of Judah as in a wine press.

Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwells in the land of Uz. The cup will pass through to you also. You will be drunken, and will make yourself naked.

“The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”

You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come, yes, the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision.