You were once abandoned and despised, with no one passing through, but I will make you a permanent source of pride and joy to coming generations.

I cry out until morning; like a lion he shatters all my bones; you turn day into night and end my life.

Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak to deliver you; his ear is not too deaf to hear you.

Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!

Look, I will take control of his mind; he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down with a sword in his own land.”’”

My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest, as one gathers up abandoned eggs, I gathered up the whole earth. There was no wing flapping, or open mouth chirping.”

We have heard about Moab’s pride, their great arrogance, their boasting, pride, and excess. But their boastful claims are empty!

When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning.

They have burned the gods of the nations, for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them.

For the sake of my reputation I hold back my anger; for the sake of my prestige I restrain myself from destroying you.

For Syria’s leader is Damascus, and the leader of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will no longer exist as a nation.

Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp, I coo like a dove; my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. O sovereign master, I am oppressed; help me!

My hand made them; that is how they came to be,” says the Lord. I show special favor to the humble and contrite, who respect what I have to say.

Men will be humiliated, they will be brought low; the proud will be brought low.

Your plunder disappears as if locusts were eating it; they swarm over it like locusts!

Remind me of what happened! Let’s debate! You, prove to me that you are right!

(63:19b) If only you would tear apart the sky and come down! The mountains would tremble before you!

Lord, do not be too angry! Do not hold our sins against us continually! Take a good look at your people, at all of us!

In light of all this, how can you still hold back, Lord? How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?

Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead, those who also accumulate landed property until there is no land left, and you are the only landowners remaining within the land.