He cried aloud and said thus: 'Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts get out from under it, And the birds from its branches.

A foolish woman is clamorous; [She is] simple, and knows nothing.

To call to those who pass by, Who go straight on their way:

O Zion, You who bring good tidings, Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, You who bring good tidings, Lift up your voice with strength, Lift [it] up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"

"Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.

Ephraim is oppressed [and] broken in judgment, Because he willingly walked by [human] precept.

For the statutes of Omri are kept; All the works of Ahab's house [are done;] And you walk in their counsels, That I may make you a desolation, And your inhabitants a hissing. Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people."

Nebuchadnezzar the king, To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.

Then King Darius wrote: To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.

So the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which [is] the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third [day;] and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces [in all,] to every province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.