²⁹ Instead, I am considered a brother to jackals
    and a companion to owls.

⁸ Therefore, I will mourn and lament.
    I will walk around barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
    and moan like an owl.

⁶ I am like an owl in the desert,
    like a little owl in a far-off wilderness.

¹⁹ Yet you have crushed us in the jackal’s desert home.
    You have covered us with darkness and death.

¹⁴ What if I call the grave my father,
    and the maggot my mother or my sister?

¹⁴ Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane,
    and then I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help.
    I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!”

²¹ Desert animals will move into the ruined city,
    and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures.
Owls will live among the ruins,
    and wild goats will go there to dance.
²² Hyenas will howl in its fortresses,
    and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s days are numbered;
    its time of destruction will soon arrive.