¹ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,

³ and say, Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the Mountains and to the hills, to the water-courses and to the valleys: Behold, I, [even] I, do bring a sword upon you, and will destroy your high places.

⁴ And your altars shall be desolate, and your sun-images shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain [men] before your idols;

⁵ and I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

⁶ In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your sun-images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

⁷ And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah.

⁸ Yet will I leave a remnant, in that ye shall have some escaped from the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.

⁹ And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they have been carried captives, when I shall have broken their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols; and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed, in all their abominations.

¹⁰ And they shall know that I [am] Jehovah: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

¹¹ Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Smite with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the abominations of the iniquities of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

¹² He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that is left, and is besieged, shall die by the famine: and I will accomplish my fury upon them.

¹³ And ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah, when their slain shall be among their idols, round about their altars, upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick terebinth, the places where they offered sweet savour to all their idols.

¹⁴ And I will stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness of Diblath, in all their dwellings; and they shall know that I [am] Jehovah.

¹ Deliver me from my enemies, my God. Set me on high from those who rise up against me.

² Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Save me from the bloodthirsty men.

³ For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty gather themselves together against me, not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, Yahweh.

⁴ I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Rise up, behold, and help me!

⁵ You, Yahweh God of Armies, the God of Israel, rouse yourself to punish the nations. Show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah.

⁶ They return at evening, howling like dogs, and prowl around the city.

⁷ Behold, they spew with their mouth. Swords are in their lips, "For," they say, "who hears us?"

⁸ But you, Yahweh, laugh at them. You scoff at all the nations.

⁹ Oh, my Strength, I watch for you, for God is my high tower.

¹⁰ My God will go before me with his loving kindness. God will let me look at my enemies in triumph.

¹¹ Don't kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.

¹² For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies which they utter.

¹³ Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth. Selah.

¹⁴ At evening let them return. Let them howl like a dog, and go around the city.

¹⁵ They shall wander up and down for food, and wait all night if they aren't satisfied.

¹⁶ But I will sing of your strength. Yes, I will sing aloud of your loving kindness in the morning. For you have been my high tower, a refuge in the day of my distress.

¹⁷ To you, my strength, I will sing praises. For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy. For the Chief Musician. To the tune of "The Lily of the Covenant." A teaching poem by David, when he fought with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah, and Joab returned, and killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.