Jerusalem will be like a ghost struggling to speak from under the ground, a muffled voice coming from the dust.

Then Micah said, "Because of this I will mourn and lament. To show my sorrow, I will walk around barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and wail like an ostrich.

The nations will see this and be frustrated in spite of all their strength. In dismay they will close their mouths and cover their ears.

The LORD says, "Babylonia, you are my hammer, my weapon of war. I used you to crush nations and kingdoms,

to kill men and women, to slay old and young, to kill boys and girls,

But the LORD says, "Can an ax claim to be greater than the one who uses it? Is a saw more important than the one who saws with it? A club doesn't lift up a person; a person lifts up a club."

The LORD Almighty will bring them crashing down like branches cut off a tree. The proudest and highest of them will be cut down and humiliated.

The LORD will cut them down as trees in the heart of the forest are cut down with an ax, as even the finest trees of Lebanon fall!

The cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice over the fallen king, because there is no one to cut them down, now that he is gone!

You sent your servants to boast to me that with all your chariots you had conquered the highest mountains of Lebanon. You boasted that there you cut down the tallest cedars and the finest cypress trees, and that you reached the deepest parts of the forests.

Weep and wail, cypress trees--- the cedars have fallen; those glorious trees have been destroyed! Weep and wail, oaks of Bashan--- the dense forest has been cut down!