<p class="poetry">&#8220;Moab, you trust in the things you do and in your riches.p> <p class="poetry">So you too will be conquered.p> <p class="poetry">Your god Chemosh<n id="1" /> will go into exile<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">along with his priests and his officials.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">I will put an end in Moabp> <p class="poetry">to those who make offerings at her places of worship.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will put an end to those who sacrifice to other gods.p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> spoke about Edom.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Is wisdom no longer to be found in Teman?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Can Edom&#8217;s counselors not give her any good advice?<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Has all of their wisdom turned bad?<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Come from far away and attack Babylonia!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Open up the places where she stores her grain!p> <p class="poetry">Pile her up in ruins!<n id="2" /> Destroy her completely!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not leave anyone alive!<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will destroy Babylonia just like I didp> <p class="poetry">Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns.p> <p class="poetry">No one will live there.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">No human being will settle in it,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Then heaven and earth and all that is in themp> <p class="poetry">will sing for joy over Babylon.p> <p class="poetry">For destroyers from the north will attack it,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="1" />p>

They captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah<n id="1" /> in the territory of Hamath and he passed sentence on him there.

<p class="poetry">Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear outp> <p class="poetry">and your throats become dry.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">But you say, &#8216;It is useless for you to try and stop mep> <p class="poetry">because I love those foreign gods<n id="2" /> and want to pursue them!&#8217;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Announce<n id="2" /> this in Judah and proclaim it in Jerusalem:<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Sound the trumpet<n id="4" /> throughout the land!&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">Shout out loudly,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Gather together! Let us flee into the fortified cities!&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">I will go to the leaders<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and speak with them.p> <p class="poetry">Surely they know what the <sc>Lordsc> demands.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Surely they know what their God requires of them.&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authorityp> <p class="poetry">and refuse to submit to him.<n id="4" />p>

So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped<n id="1" /> in the early days. See what I did to it<n id="2" /> because of the wicked things my people Israel did.

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>, who is the inheritance<n id="1" /> of Jacob&#8217;s descendants,<n id="2" /> is not like them.p> <p class="poetry">He is the one who created everything.p> <p class="poetry">And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">He is known as the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> told me about<n id="1" /> some men from Anathoth<n id="2" /> who were threatening to kill me.<n id="3" /> They had threatened,<n id="4" /> &#8220;Stop prophesying in the name of the <sc>Lordsc> or we will kill you!&#8221;<n id="5" />

<p class="poetry">My people will sow wheat, but will harvest weeds.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will work until they are exhausted, but will get nothing from it.p> <p class="poetry">They will be disappointed in their harvests<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">because the <sc>Lordsc> will take them away in his fierce anger.<n id="3" />p>

And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike.<n id="1" /> I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,&#8217;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">People of Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> I have seen your adulterous worship,p> <p class="poetry">your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I have seen your disgusting acts of worship<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">on the hills throughout the countryside.p> <p class="poetry">You are doomed to destruction!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">How long will you continue to be unclean?&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">But for now I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8220;I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">You are the one in whom Israel may find hope.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">All who leave you will suffer shame.p> <p class="poetry">Those who turn away from you<n id="2" /> will be consigned to the nether world.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For they have rejected you, the <sc>Lordsc>, the fountain of life.<n id="4" />p>

Now and then<n id="1" /> there would be something wrong<n id="2" /> with the pot he was molding from the clay<n id="3" /> with his hands. So he would rework<n id="4" /> the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit.<n id="5" />p>