Joab answered, “Get serious! I don’t want to swallow up or destroy anything!

Smoke ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth; he hurled down fiery coals.

I wipe them out and beat them to death; they cannot get up; they fall at my feet.

The Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will cut off Jeroboam’s dynasty. It is ready to happen!

Then the king of Israel marched out and struck down the horses and chariots; he thoroughly defeated Syria.

The Moabites said, “It’s blood! The kings are totally destroyed! They have struck one another down! Now, Moab, seize the plunder!”

Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. Do you really think you will be rescued?

Abijah and his army thoroughly defeated them; 500,000 well-trained Israelite men fell dead.

So look, the Lord is about to severely afflict your people, your sons, your wives, and all you own.

“Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, ‘A man has been conceived!’

Call to mind now: Who, being innocent, ever perished? And where were upright people ever destroyed?

By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the wasteland and perish.

“Your hands have shaped me and made me, but now you destroy me completely.

But the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident – who carry their god in their hands.

He makes nations great, and destroys them; he extends the boundaries of nations and disperses them.

Terrifying sounds fill his ears; in a time of peace marauders attack him.

he wanders about – food for vultures; he knows that the day of darkness is at hand.

the blessing of the dying man descended on me, and I made the widow’s heart rejoice;

“Surely one does not stretch out his hand against a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.