<p class="poetry">I will threaten Ariel,p> <p class="poetry">and she will mourn intenselyp> <p class="poetry">and become like an altar hearth<n id="1" /> before me.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Here is a message about Damascus:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Look, Damascus is no longer a city,p> <p class="poetry">it is a heap of ruins!p>

<p class="poetry">Edom&#8217;s<n id="1" /> streams will be turned into pitchp> <p class="poetry">and her soil into brimstone;p> <p class="poetry">her land will become burning pitch.p>

<p class="poetry">Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns;p> <p class="poetry">thickets and weeds will grow<n id="1" /> in her fortified cities.p> <p class="poetry">Jackals will settle there;p> <p class="poetry">ostriches will live there.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed,<n id="1" /> like one of the large sacred trees<n id="2" /> or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down.<n id="3" /> That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Indeed every boot that marches and shakes the earth<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and every garment dragged through bloodp> <p class="poetry">is used as fuel for the fire.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">At that time<n id="1" /> a root from Jesse<n id="2" /> will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance,<n id="3" /> and his residence will be majestic.

<p class="poetry">There will be a highway leading out of Assyriap> <p class="poetry">for the remnant of his people,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">just as there was for Israel,p> <p class="poetry">when<n id="2" /> they went up from the land of Egypt.p>

<p class="poetry">Babylon, the most admired<n id="1" /> of kingdoms,p> <p class="poetry">the Chaldeans&#8217; source of honor and pride,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">will be destroyed by Godp> <p class="poetry">just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">At that time<n id="1" /> their fortified cities will bep> <p class="poetry">like the abandoned summits of the Amorites,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">which they abandoned because of the Israelites;p> <p class="poetry">there will be desolation.p>

The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies is planning to do to them.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">The withering flower, its beautiful splendor,p> <p class="poetry">situated at the head of a rich valley,p> <p class="poetry">will be like an early fig before harvest &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">as soon as someone notices it,p> <p class="poetry">he grabs it and swallows it.<n id="1" />p>