But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">So her young men will fall in her city squares.p> <p class="poetry">All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;When this happens,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;the king and his officials will lose their courage.p> <p class="poetry">The priests will be struck with horror,p> <p class="poetry">and the prophets will be speechless in astonishment.&#8221;p>

But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong,<n id="1" /> I will cancel the destruction<n id="2" /> I intended to do to it.

<p class="poetry">May that man be like the cities<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">that the <sc>Lordsc> destroyed without showing any mercy.p> <p class="poetry">May he hear a cry of distress in the morningp> <p class="poetry">and a battle cry at noon.p>

I will punish any prophet, priest, or other person who says &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s message is burdensome.&#8221;<n id="1" /> I will punish both that person and his whole family.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">There has never been any like it.p> <p class="poetry">It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">but some of them will be rescued out of it.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">When the time for them to be rescued comes,&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will rescue you from foreign subjugation.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will deliver you from captivity.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.p>

But I will rescue you when it happens.<n id="1" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" /> You will not be handed over to those whom you fear.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">Her towns<n id="1" /> will be captured.p> <p class="poetry">Her fortresses will be taken.p> <p class="poetry">At that time the soldiers of Moab will be frightenedp> <p class="poetry">like a woman in labor.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings,p> <p class="poetry">a nation will soar up and swoop down on Bozrah.p> <p class="poetry">At that time the soldiers of Edom will be as fearfulp> <p class="poetry">as a woman in labor.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">For her young men will fall in her city squares.p> <p class="poetry">All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation<n id="1" /> for their sins. I will make the land of Babylon<n id="2" /> an everlasting ruin.<n id="3" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="4" />

<p class="poetry">Those who have been killed by the <sc>Lordsc> at that timep> <p class="poetry">will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other.p> <p class="poetry">They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.p>

But he<n id="1" /> left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing. He gave them fields and vineyards at that time.p>

&#8220;Go<n id="1" /> and tell Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says, &#8220;I will carry out against this city what I promised. It will mean disaster and not good fortune for it.<n id="2" /> When that disaster happens, you will be there to see it.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">But that day belongs to the Lord God who rules over all.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">It is the day when he will pay back his enemies.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied!p> <p class="poetry">It will drink their blood until it is full!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For the Lord <sc>Godsc> who rules over all<n id="4" /> will offer them up as a sacrificep> <p class="poetry">in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.p>

But suppose a nation or a kingdom will not be subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Suppose it will not submit to the yoke of servitude to<n id="1" /> him. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm that<n id="2" /> I will punish that nation. I will use the king of Babylon to punish it<n id="3" /> with war,<n id="4" /> starvation, and disease until I have destroyed it.<n id="5" />