<p class="poetry">They will lay it waste.p> <p class="poetry">It will lie parched<n id="1" /> and empty before me.p> <p class="poetry">The whole land will be laid waste.p> <p class="poetry">But no one living in it will pay any heed.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for<n id="1" /> these people, I would not feel pity for them!<n id="2" /> Get them away from me! Tell them to go away!<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">But you are always thinking and lookingp> <p class="poetry">for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means.p> <p class="poetry">Your eyes and your heart are setp> <p class="poetry">on killing some innocent personp> <p class="poetry">and committing fraud and oppression.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Yes,<n id="1" /> I will restore you to health.p> <p class="poetry">I will heal your wounds.p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For you have been called an outcast,p> <p class="poetry">Zion, whom no one cares for.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you dear poor people of Egypt.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">there will be no healing for you.p>

<p class="poetry">People will not praise Moab any more.p> <p class="poetry">The enemy will capture Heshbon<n id="1" /> and plot<n id="2" /> how to destroy Moab,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">saying, &#8216;Come, let&#8217;s put an end to that nation!&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">City of Madmen, you will also be destroyed.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">A destructive army will march against you.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">On all the housetops in Moabp> <p class="poetry">and in all its public squaresp> <p class="poetry">there will be nothing but mourning.p> <p class="poetry">For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar.p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="lamhebrew">&#1489; (<i>Beti>)p> <p class="poetry">She weeps bitterly at night;p> <p class="poetry">tears stream down her cheeks.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">She has no one to comfort herp> <p class="poetry">among all her lovers.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">All her friends have betrayed her;p> <p class="poetry">they have become her enemies.p>

<p class="lamhebrew">&#1496; (<i>Teti>)p> <p class="poetry">Her menstrual flow<n id="1" /> has soiled<n id="2" /> her clothing;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">she did not consider<n id="4" /> the consequences of her sin.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">Her demise<n id="6" /> was astonishing,<n id="7" />p> <p class="poetry">and there was no one to comfort her.p> <p class="poetry">She cried, &#8220;Look,<n id="8" /> O <sc>Lordsc>, on my<n id="9" /> afflictionp> <p class="poetry">because my<n id="10" /> enemy boasts!&#8221;p>

<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">&#1496; (<i>Teti>)p> <p class="poetry">Her city gates have fallen<n id="1" /> to the ground;p> <p class="poetry">he smashed to bits<n id="2" /> the bars that lock her gates.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Her king and princes were taken into exile;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">there is no more guidance available.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">As for her prophets,p> <p class="poetry">they no longer receive<n id="6" /> a vision from the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

I will vent my rage against the wall, and against those who coated it with whitewash. Then I will say to you, &#8220;The wall is no more and those who whitewashed it are no more &#8211;

As I watched, I saw<n id="1" /> tendons on them, then muscles appeared,<n id="2" /> and skin covered over them from above, but there was no breath<n id="3" /> in them.p>

You will say, &#8220;I will invade<n id="1" /> a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against<n id="2" /> those living quietly in security &#8211; all of them living without walls and barred gates &#8211;

For the Israelites<n id="1" /> must live many days without a king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred fertility pillar, without ephod or idols.

<p class="poetry">All of them are blazing like an oven;p> <p class="poetry">they devour their rulers.p> <p class="poetry">All of their kings fall &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">and none of them call on me!p>

<t /><p class="poetry">They sow the wind,p> <p class="poetry">and so they will reap the whirlwind!p> <p class="poetry">The stalk does not have any standing grain;p> <p class="poetry">it will not produce any flour.p> <p class="poetry">Even if it were to yield grain,p> <p class="poetry">foreigners would swallow it all up.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Very soon they will say, &#8220;We have no kingp> <p class="poetry">since we did not fear the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">But what can a king do for us anyway?&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Listen to the cattle groan!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The herds of livestock wander around in confusion<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">because they have no pasture.p> <p class="poetry">Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.p>

<p class="poetry">Does a lion roar in the woods if he has not cornered his prey?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Does a young lion bellow from his den if he has not caught something?p>