¹⁹ Then ^(A)they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. ²⁰ He ^(B)took into exile those who had escaped from the sword to Babylon; and ^(C)they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, ^21 (D)to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until ^(E)the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. ^(F)All the days of its desolation it kept the Sabbath ^[a](G)until seventy years were complete.

¹⁹ They will all come and settle on the steep ^[a]ravines, on the ^(A)ledges of the cliffs, ^(B)on all the thorn bushes, and on all the watering places.

²⁰ On that day the Lord will ^(C)shave with a ^(D)razor, ^(E)hired from regions beyond ^(F)the Euphrates River (that is, with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard.

²¹ Now on that day a person may keep alive only a ^(G)heifer and a pair of sheep; ²² and because of the abundance of the milk produced he will eat ^[b]curds, for everyone who is left within the land will eat ^[c](H)curds and honey.

²³ And it will come about on that day, ^(I)that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a thousand shekels of silver, will become ^(J)briars and thorns. ²⁴ People will come there with bows and arrows, because all the land will be briars and thorns. ²⁵ As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the plow, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for ^[d](K)pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.

Judgment on the Earth

24 Behold, the Lord ^(A)lays the earth waste, devastates it, twists its surface, and scatters its inhabitants.

³ The earth will be completely laid waste and completely plundered, for the Lord has spoken this word.

^11 (A)This entire land will be a place of ruins and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for ^(B)seventy years.