30 It is not certain if the prophet or the Lord is speaking at this point.
31 The suffixed (perfect) form of the verb is used; in this way the coming event is described for rhetorical effect as occurring or as already completed.
32 The third masculine singular suffix refers back to “my people.”
33 Heb “Their glory will be men of hunger.” כָּבוֹד (kavod, “glory”) is in opposition to הָמוֹן (hamon, “masses”) and refers here to the rich and prominent members of the nation. Some prefer to repoint מְתֵי (métey, “men of”) as מִתֵי (mitey, “dead ones of”).
34 The third masculine singular suffix refers back to “my people.”
35 Heb “and their masses will be parched [by] thirst.”
36 Heb “Sheol” (so , , ); the underworld, the land of the dead, according to the OT world view. Cf. “the nether world”; , “the world of the dead”; “the grave.”
37 Heb “so Sheol will make wide its throat, and open its mouth without limit.” Death is portrayed in both the OT (Prov 1:12; Hab 2:5) and Canaanite myth as voraciously swallowing up its prey. In the myths Death is portrayed as having “a lip to the earth, a lip to the heavens … and a tongue to the stars.” (G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 69, text 5 ii 2–3.) Death describes his own appetite as follows: “But my appetite is the appetite of lions in the waste … If it is in very truth my desire to consume ‘clay’ [a reference to his human victims], then in truth by the handfuls I must eat it, whether my seven portions [indicating fullness and completeness] are already in the bowl or whether Nahar [the god of the river responsible for ferrying victims from the land of the living to the land of the dead] has to mix the cup.” (Driver, 68–69, text 5 i 14–22).
38 Heb “and her splendor and her masses will go down, and her tumult and the one who exults in her.” The antecedent of the four feminine singular pronominal suffixes used in v. 14b is unclear. The likely referent is personified Zion/Jerusalem (see 3:25–26; 4:4–5).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Therefore my people go into exile

for lack of knowledge;

their honored men go hungry,

and their multitude is parched with thirst.

Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite

and opened its mouth beyond measure,

and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down,

her revelers and he who exults in her.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Therefore my people will go into exile

for lack of understanding;

those of high rank will die of hunger

and the common people will be parched with thirst.

Therefore Death expands its jaws,

opening wide its mouth;

into it will descend their nobles and masses

with all their brawlers and revelers.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Therefore my people will go into exile

because they lack knowledge;

her dignitaries are starving,

and her masses are parched with thirst.

Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat

and opens wide its enormous jaws,

and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses,

her crowds, and those who celebrate in her!

NLTNew Living Translation

So my people will go into exile far away

because they do not know me.

Those who are great and honored will starve,

and the common people will die of thirst.

The grave is licking its lips in anticipation,

opening its mouth wide.

The great and the lowly

and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge,

and their nobles will be men of hunger,

and their multitude is parched with thirst.

Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat,

and it has opened wide its mouth without limit,

and her nobles will go down, and her multitude,

her tumult and those who revel in her.

KJV 1900King James Version

Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge:

And their honourable men are famished,

And their multitude dried up with thirst.

Therefore hell hath enlarged herself,

And opened her mouth without measure:

And their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp,

And he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

Public Domain