¹⁷ Behold, I am going to ^(A)stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not value silver or ^(B)take pleasure in gold.
¹⁸ And their bows will ^[a]mow down the ^(C)young men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their ^(D)eye pity ^[b]children.

²¹ For ^(A)death has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces
To eliminate the ^(B)children from the streets,
The young men from the public squares.

²¹ Therefore, ^(A)give their children over to famine
And turn them over to the ^[a]power of the sword;
And let their wives become ^(B)childless and ^(C)widowed.
Let their men also be slaughtered to death,
Their ^(D)young men struck and killed by the sword in battle.

²⁶ Therefore, her ^(A)young men will fall in her streets,
And all the men of war will perish on that day,” declares the Lord of armies.