“‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion
    despises and mocks you;
the Daughter of Jerusalem—
    she tosses her head behind you as you flee.
²³ Whom have you insulted and reviled?
    Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
    Against the Holy One of Israel!
²⁴ By your messengers^[b] you have insulted the Lord,
    and you have said,
“With my many chariots
    I have climbed the heights of mountains,
        the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars,
    the choicest of its pines;
I reached its remotest heights,
    the most verdant of its forests.
²⁵ I myself dug wells^[c]
    and drank foreign^[d] waters;
with the soles of my feet
    I dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

²⁶ “‘Didn’t you hear
    how in the distant past I decided to do it,
        how^[e] I planned from days of old?
Now I’ve made it happen—
    that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps.^[f]
27 Their inhabitants are devoid of power,
    and are terrified and put to shame.
They’ve become like plants in the field,
    like^[g] green shoots,
like grass on rooftops,
    scorched by the east wind.^[h]

²⁸ “‘I know when you rise up
    and^[i] when you sit down,
your comings and goings—
    and how you’ve become enraged at me.
²⁹ Your insolence^[j] has reached my ears,
    so I’ll put my hook in your nose
        and my bit in your mouth,^[k]
and I’ll make you turn back on the road
    by which you came.