5. Take the flock’s best animal;arrange the wood beneath it.Bring it to a rolling boil,and cook its bones in it.
6. The Lord God proclaims: Horror! You bloody city, you corroded pot; pot whose corrosion can’t be removed! Empty it piece by piece. She is rejected
7. because her blood is still with her. She didn’t pour it out on the ground so that it could be covered with dirt, but she spread it out on a bare rock.
8. In order to arouse wrath, to guarantee vengeance, I will spread her blood on a bare rock, never to be covered.
9. So now the Lord God proclaims:Horror! You bloody city!I myself will add fuel to the fire!
10. Pile on the wood, light the fire, and cook the meat.Season it well and let the bones be charred.
11. Let the pot stand empty on its coalsuntil it’s so hot that its copper glows,its impurities melt in it,and its corrosion is consumed.
12. It’s a worthless task.Even by fire its great corrosion isn’t removed.
13. How your betrayals defile you! I cleansed you, but you didn’t come clean from your impurities. You won’t be clean again until I have exhausted my anger against you.
14. I, the Lord, have spoken! It’s coming, and I’ll do it. I won’t relent or have any pity or compassion. Your punishments will fit your ways and your deeds! This is what the Lord God says.
15. The Lord’s word came to me:
16. Human one, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you in a single stroke. Don’t mourn or weep. Don’t even let your tears well up.
17. Sigh inwardly; be deathly still. Don’t perform mourning rites, but bind on your turban and put your shoes on your feet. And don’t cover your upper lip or eat in human company.
18. I spoke with the people in the morning, and by evening my wife was dead. The next morning I did as I was commanded.
19. The people asked, "Won’t you tell us what your actions mean for us?"