<p class="poetry">Look all around you!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They all gather and come to you &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">your sons come from far awayp> <p class="poetry">and your daughters are escorted by guardians.p>

<p class="poetry">The people I call my own attack me like birds of prey or like hyenas.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">But other birds of prey are all around them.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Let all the nations gather together like wild beasts.p> <p class="poetry">Let them come and destroy these people I call my own.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">What do I see?&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The soldiers<n id="3" /> are terrified.p> <p class="poetry">They are retreating.p> <p class="poetry">They have been defeated.p> <p class="poetry">They are overcome with terror;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">they desert quicklyp> <p class="poetry">without looking back.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Make an announcement throughout Egypt.p> <p class="poetry">Proclaim it in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Take your positions and prepare to do battle.p> <p class="poetry">For the enemy army is destroying all the nations around you.&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it,p> <p class="poetry">all of you nations that know of its fame.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Mourn and say, &#8216;Alas, its powerful influence has been broken!p> <p class="poetry">Its glory and power have been done away!&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Oh, how shattered Moab will be!p> <p class="poetry">Oh, how her people will wail!p> <p class="poetry">Oh, how she will turn away<n id="1" /> in shame!p> <p class="poetry">Moab will become an object of ridicule,p> <p class="poetry">a terrifying sight to all the nations that surround her.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">I will bring terror on you from every side,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the Lord <sc>Godsc> who rules over all.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;You will be scattered in every direction.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">No one will gather the fugitives back together.p>

<p class="poetry">Their tents and their flocks will be taken away.p> <p class="poetry">Their tent curtains, equipment, and camels will be carried off.p> <p class="poetry">People will shout<n id="1" /> to them,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Terror is all around you!&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Take up your battle positions all around Babylon,p> <p class="poetry">all you soldiers who are armed with bows.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Shoot<n id="2" /> all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For she has sinned against the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will winnow her and strip her land bare.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">This will happen when<n id="3" /> they come against her from every direction,p> <p class="poetry">when it is time to destroy her.<n id="4" />p>

The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.

<t /><p class="lamhebrew">&#1508; (<i>Pei>)p> <p class="poetry">Zion spread out her hands,p> <p class="poetry">but there is no one to comfort her.p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> has issued a decree against Jacob;p> <p class="poetry">his neighbors<n id="1" /> have become his enemies.p> <p class="poetry">Jerusalem has becomep> <p class="poetry">like filthy garbage<n id="2" /> in their midst.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="lamhebrew">&#1490; (<i>Gimeli>)p> <p class="poetry">In fierce anger<n id="1" /> he destroyed<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the whole army<n id="3" /> of Israel.p> <p class="poetry">He withdrew his right hand<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">as the enemy attacked.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">He was like a raging fire in the land of Jacob;<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">it consumed everything around it.<n id="7" />p>

<p class="lamhebrew">&#1514; (<i>Tavi>)p> <p class="poetry">As if it were a feast day, you call<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">enemies<n id="2" /> to terrify me<n id="3" /> on every side.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">On the day of the Lord&#8217;s angerp> <p class="poetry">no one escaped or survived.p> <p class="poetry">My enemy has finished offp> <p class="poetry">those healthy infants whom I bore<n id="5" /> and raised.<n id="6" />p>

Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp<n id="1" /> against it! Post soldiers outside it<n id="2" /> and station battering rams around it.

A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you.<n id="1" /> A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you,<n id="2" /> and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.

You will be<n id="1" /> an object of scorn and taunting,<n id="2" /> a prime example of destruction<n id="3" /> among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury.<n id="4" /> I, the <sc>Lord,sc> have spoken!

Then you will know that I am the <sc>Lordsc>, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the regulations of the nations around you!&#8217;&#8221;p>

All prostitutes receive payment,<n id="1" /> but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors!

They will attack<n id="1" /> you with weapons,<n id="2" /> chariots, wagons, and with a huge army;<n id="3" /> they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment;<n id="4" /> they will punish you according to their laws.