In that day shall {one} take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, {and} say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed {it} from me! turning away he hath divided our fields. {a doleful...: Heb. a lamentation of lamentations} {turning...: or, instead of restoring}

Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which {are} in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;

That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! {proverb: or, taunting speech} {golden...: or, exactress of gold}

He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, {saying}, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.

The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

Wherefore do ye spend money for {that which is} not bread? and your labour for {that which} satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye {that which is} good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. {spend: Heb. weigh}

LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?

But God said unto him, {Thou} fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? {thy...: Gr. do they require thy soul}

Behold, {is it} not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? {for...: or, in vain?}

They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up {as} the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. {their...: or, the supping up of their faces, etc: or, their faces shall look (Heb. the opposition of their faces) toward the east}

But this I say, brethren, the time {is} short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. {the naked...: Heb. the clothes of the naked}

He that oppresseth the poor to increase his {riches, and} he that giveth to the rich, {shall} surely {come} to want.

They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. {drag: or, flue net}

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

Go to now, {ye} rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon {you}.

He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, {Is there} not a lie in my right hand?

And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:

Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.

An inheritance {may be} gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.

Wealth {gotten} by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase. {by labour: Heb. with the hand}

In that day shall {one} take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, {and} say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed {it} from me! turning away he hath divided our fields. {a doleful...: Heb. a lamentation of lamentations} {turning...: or, instead of restoring}

{As} the partridge sitteth {on eggs}, and hatcheth {them} not; {so} he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. {sitteth...: or, gathereth young which she hath not brought forth}

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness {which} they have prescribed; {that write...: or, to the writers that write grievousness}

And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. {the substance...: or, the wicked for their wickedness}

Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because {it is} none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

And when he came to the tower, he took {them} from their hand, and bestowed {them} in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. {tower: or, secret place}

The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.

And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! {proverb: or, taunting speech} {golden...: or, exactress of gold}

Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put {it} even among their own stuff.

Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, {saying}, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.

Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;