Lexicon :: Strong's H6963 - qôl

“The young lions have roared at him,

They have made their voices heard and roared loudly.

And they have made his land a waste;

His cities have been destroyed and are burned ruins, without inhabitant.

‘Only understand fully and acknowledge your wickedness and guilt,

That you have rebelled (transgressed) against the LORD your God

And have scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree,

And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the LORD.

A voice is heard on the barren heights,

The weeping and pleading of the children of Israel,

Because they have lost their way,

They have [deliberately] forgotten the LORD their God.

For a voice declares from Dan [far in the north],

And proclaims evil from [fn]Mount Ephraim.

My soul, my soul! I writhe in anguish and pain! Oh, the walls of my heart!

My heart is pounding and throbbing within me;

I cannot be silent,

For you have heard, O my soul,

The sound of the trumpet,

The alarm of war.

How long [O LORD] must I see the banner [marking the way for flight]

And hear the sound of the trumpet [urging the people to run for safety]?

Every city runs away at the sound of the horsemen and archers.

They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;

Every city is deserted,

And no man lives in them.

For I heard a cry like a woman in labor,

The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,

The cry of the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem), who gasps for breath,

Who stretches out her hands, saying,

“Woe is me [my judgment comes]! I faint [in fear] before the murderers.”

“I have set watchmen (prophets) over you,

Saying, ‘Listen and pay attention to the [warning] sound of the trumpet!’

But they said, ‘We will not listen.’

“They seize bow and spear;

They are cruel and inhuman and have no mercy.

Their voice sounds like the roaring sea;

They ride [in formation] on horses,

Arrayed as a man for battle

Against you, O Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem)!”

The snorting of [Nebuchadnezzar’s] horses is heard from Dan [on Palestine’s northern border].

At the sound of the neighing of his strong stallions

The whole land quakes;

For they come and devour the land and all that is in it,

The city and those who live in it.

Behold, [hear the sound of] the cry of the daughter of my people from the distant land [of Babylon]:

“Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her King within her?”

[But the LORD answers] “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images and with foreign idols?”

“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,

And a [funeral] dirge for the pastures of the wilderness,

Because they are burned up and desolated so that no one passes through [them];

Nor can anyone hear the lowing of cattle.

Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

“For a sound of wailing is heard [coming] from Zion:

‘How we are ruined!

We are greatly perplexed and utterly shamed,

Because we have left the land,

Because they have torn down our dwellings.’”

When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of [fn]waters in the heavens,

And He causes the clouds and the mist to ascend from the end of the earth;

He makes lightning for the rain,

And brings out the wind from His treasuries and from His storehouses.

The sound of a report! Behold, [the invader] comes—

A great commotion from the country of the north (Babylonia)—

To make the cities of Judah

A desolation, a haunt and dwelling place of jackals.

The LORD [acknowledged you once as worthy and] called your name,

“A green olive tree, fair and beautiful in fruit and form”;

But with the roar of a great tempest

He has set fire to it,

And its branches are worthless.

“My inheritance has become to Me

Like a lion in the forest;

She has raised her voice and roared against Me;

So I have come to [treat her as if I] hate her.

Pay attention to me, O LORD [and intercede];

Listen to what my adversaries are saying [and are plotting against me]—

“Go up [north] to Lebanon and cry out,

And raise your voice in [the hills of] Bashan [across the Jordan];

Cry out also from [fn]Abarim,

For all your lovers (allies) have been destroyed.

“Therefore prophesy all these words against them and say to them:

‘The LORD will roar from on high

And utter His voice from His holy dwelling;

He will roar mightily against His fold and pasture.

He will jubilantly shout like those who tread the grapes [in the wine press],

Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

“A voice! The cry of the shepherds

And the wailing of the masters of the flock!

For the LORD is destroying their pasture,

“Thus says the LORD,

‘We have heard a terrified voice

Of panic and dread, and there is no peace.

‘From them (city, palace) will come [songs of] thanksgiving

And the voices of those who dance and celebrate.

And I will multiply them and they will not be diminished [in number];

I will also honor them and they will not be insignificant.

Thus says the LORD,

“A [fn]voice is heard in Ramah,

Lamentation (songs of mourning) and bitter weeping.

Rachel (Israel) is weeping for her children;

She refuses to be comforted for her children,

Because they are gone.”

“Give praise and thanks to the LORD of hosts,

For the LORD is good;

For His [steadfast] lovingkindness (mercy) endures forever”;

and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the LORD.