“So now the Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, ¹  asks, ‘Why will you do such great harm to yourselves? Why should every man, woman, child, and baby of yours be destroyed from the midst of Judah? Why should you leave yourselves without a remnant?

None of the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah. Though they long to return and live there, none of them shall return except a few fugitives.’” ¹ 

Anyone who flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit. Anyone who climbs out of the pit will be caught in a trap. ¹  For the time is coming when I will punish the people of Moab. ²  I, the Lord, affirm it! ³ 

Why do you constantly go about changing your political allegiances? ¹  You will get no help from Egypt just as you got no help from Assyria. ² 

“Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people. They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. ¹  They set deadly traps ²  to catch people.

Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny. ¹  It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them. ² 

The Lord says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, ²  and whose hearts ³  have turned away from the Lord.

So their land will become an object of horror. ¹  People will forever hiss out their scorn over it. All who pass that way will be filled with horror and will shake their heads in derision. ² 

I will make this city an object of horror, a thing to be hissed at. All who pass by it will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn ¹  because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ² 

Lord, you coerced me into being a prophet, and I allowed you to do it. You overcame my resistance and prevailed over me. ¹  Now I have become a constant laughingstock. Everyone ridicules me.

I will send men against it to destroy it ¹  with their axes and hatchets. They will hack up its fine cedar panels and columns and throw them into the fire.

People of Jerusalem, ¹  go up to Lebanon and cry out in mourning. Go to the land of Bashan and cry out loudly. Cry out in mourning from the mountains of Moab. ²  For your allies ³  have all been defeated.

I will punish any prophet, priest, or other person who says “The Lord’s message is burdensome.” ¹  I will punish both that person and his whole family.’” ² 

Listen to the cries of anguish of the leaders. Listen to the wails of the shepherds of the flocks. They are wailing because the Lord is about to destroy their lands. ¹ 

I will rebuild you, my dear children Israel, ¹  so that you will once again be built up. Once again you will take up the tambourine and join in the happy throng of dancers. ² 

“Because of this, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘I am determined to bring disaster on you, ¹  even to the point of destroying all the Judeans here. ² 

I have heard how proud the people of Moab are, I know how haughty they are. I have heard how arrogant, proud, and haughty they are, what a high opinion they have of themselves. ¹ 

Why do you brag about your great power? Your power is ebbing away, ¹  you rebellious people of Ammon, ²  who trust in your riches and say, ‘Who would dare to attack us?’

The Lord who rules over all ¹  spoke about Edom. ²  “Is wisdom no longer to be found in Teman? ³  Can Edom’s counselors not give her any good advice? ⁴  Has all of their wisdom turned bad? ⁵ 

Come from far away and attack Babylonia! ¹  Open up the places where she stores her grain! Pile her up in ruins! ²  Destroy her completely! ³  Do not leave anyone alive! ⁴