<p class="poetry">Now it is planted in the wilderness,p> <p class="poetry">in a dry and thirsty land.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">The drought as well as the heat carry awayp> <p class="poetry">the melted snow;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">so the grave<n id="2" /> takes away those who have sinned.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">gaunt<n id="1" /> with want and hunger,p> <p class="poetry">they would gnaw<n id="2" /> the parched land,p> <p class="poetry">in former time desolate and waste.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">As for his people,<n id="1" /> he turned<n id="2" /> a desert into a pool of water,p> <p class="poetry">and a dry land into springs of water.p>

<p class="poetry">But Babylonia will be put to great shame.p> <p class="poetry">The land where you were born<n id="1" /> will be disgraced.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed,<n id="2" /> Babylonia will become the least important of all nations.p> <p class="poetry">It will become a dry and barren desert.p>

<p class="poetry">I will make streams flow down the slopesp> <p class="poetry">and produce springs in the middle of the valleys.p> <p class="poetry">I will turn the desert into a pool of waterp> <p class="poetry">and the arid land into springs.p>

<p class="poetry">He sprouted up like a twig before God,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like a root out of parched soil;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">no special appearance that we should want to follow him.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins.p> <p class="poetry">She has become a dry and barren desert.p> <p class="poetry">No one lives in those towns any more.p> <p class="poetry">No one even passes through them.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Otherwise, I will strip her naked,p> <p class="poetry">and expose her like she was when she was born.p> <p class="poetry">I will turn her land into a wildernessp> <p class="poetry">and make her country a parched land,p> <p class="poetry">so that I might kill<n id="1" /> her with thirst.p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> will attack the north<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and destroy Assyria.p> <p class="poetry">He will make Nineveh a heap of ruins;p> <p class="poetry">it will be as barren<n id="3" /> as the desert.p>

<t /><p class="psasuper">A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">O God, you are my God! I long for you!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">My soul thirsts<n id="4" /> for you,p> <p class="poetry">my flesh yearns for you,p> <p class="poetry">in a dry and parched<n id="5" /> land where there is no water.p>

<p class="poetry">They did not ask:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Where is the <sc>Lordsc> who delivered us out of Egypt,p> <p class="poetry">who brought us through the wilderness,p> <p class="poetry">through a land of desert sands and rift valleys,p> <p class="poetry">through a land of drought and deep darkness,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">through a land in which no one travels,p> <p class="poetry">and where no one lives?&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will remove the one from the north<n id="1" /> far from you.p> <p class="poetry">I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place.p> <p class="poetry">Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">His stench will rise up as a foul smell.&#8221;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Indeed, the <sc>Lordsc><n id="5" /> has accomplished great things.p>