Add parallel Print Page Options

“Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures,
    who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
    ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.
I won’t sit as a widow,
    neither will I know the loss of children.’
But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day,
    the loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in their full measure,
    in the multitude of your sorceries,
    and the great abundance of your enchantments.
10 For you have trusted in your wickedness.
    You have said, ‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you.
    You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
11 Therefore disaster will come on you.
    You won’t know when it dawns.
Mischief will fall on you.
    You won’t be able to put it away.
Desolation will come on you suddenly,
    which you don’t understand.

Read full chapter

“Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom,
    living at ease and feeling secure.
You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.
    I will never be a widow or lose my children.’
Well, both these things will come upon you in a moment:
    widowhood and the loss of your children.
Yes, these calamities will come upon you,
    despite all your witchcraft and magic.

10 “You felt secure in your wickedness.
    ‘No one sees me,’ you said.
But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray,
    and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’
11 So disaster will overtake you,
    and you won’t be able to charm it away.
Calamity will fall upon you,
    and you won’t be able to buy your way out.
A catastrophe will strike you suddenly,
    one for which you are not prepared.

Read full chapter