You are guilty of those murders and are defiled by the idols you made, and so your day is coming, your time is up! That is why I have let the nations make fun of you and all the countries sneer at you.

I will turn your cities into ruins, destroy your places of worship, and refuse to accept your sacrifices.

I will destroy your land so completely that the enemies who occupy it will be shocked at the destruction.

In the countries to which the LORD will scatter you, the people will be shocked at what has happened to you; they will make fun of you and ridicule you.

then I will remove you from the land that I gave you, and I will abandon this Temple that I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped. People everywhere will ridicule it and treat it with contempt.

"The Temple is now greatly honored, but then everyone who passes by it will be amazed and will ask, 'Why did the LORD do this to this land and this Temple?'

But now I said to them, "See what trouble we are in because Jerusalem is in ruins and its gates are destroyed! Let's rebuild the city walls and put an end to our disgrace."

Walk over these total ruins; our enemies have destroyed everything in the Temple.

They looked like woodsmen cutting down trees with their axes.

They wrecked your Temple and set it on fire; they desecrated the place where you are worshiped.

All our sacred symbols are gone; there are no prophets left, and no one knows how long this will last.

O God, the heathen have invaded your land. They have desecrated your holy Temple and left Jerusalem in ruins.

They shed your people's blood like water; blood flowed like water all through Jerusalem, and no one was left to bury the dead.

Your sacred cities are like a desert; Jerusalem is a deserted ruin,

and our Temple, the sacred and beautiful place where our ancestors praised you, has been destroyed by fire. All the places we loved are in ruins.

I will bring such terrible destruction on this city that everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed.

I will bring such a disaster on them that all the nations of the world will be terrified. People will make fun of them, make jokes about them, ridicule them, and use their name as a curse everywhere I scatter them.

I will bring war, starvation, and disease on them until there is not one of them left in the land that I gave to them and their ancestors."

"The LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will be a horrifying sight; people will make fun of you and use your name as a curse. You will never see this place again.' "

No one comes to the Temple now to worship on the holy days. The young women who sang there suffer, and the priests can only groan. The city gates stand empty, and Zion is in agony.

Her honor is gone; she is naked and held in contempt. She groans and hides her face in shame. Jerusalem made herself filthy with terrible sin.

People passing by the city look at you in scorn. They shake their heads and laugh at Jerusalem's ruins: "Is this that lovely city? Is this the pride of the world?"

The LORD has finally done what he threatened to do: He has destroyed us without mercy, as he warned us long ago. He gave our enemies victory, gave them joy at our downfall.

because Mount Zion lies lonely and deserted, and wild jackals prowl through its ruins.

And so, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a pile of ruins, and the Temple hill will become a forest.