But as soon as they were inside the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw their bodies<n id="1" /> in a cistern.

So they took all their troops and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him near the large pool<n id="1" /> at Gibeon.

I will indeed<n id="1" /> see to it that disaster, not prosperity, happens to them.<n id="2" /> All the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will die in war or from starvation until not one of them is left.

<p class="poetry">I will make many stumble.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will fall over one another in their hurry to flee.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They will say, &#8216;Get up!p> <p class="poetry">Let&#8217;s go back to our own people.p> <p class="poetry">Let&#8217;s go back to our homelandsp> <p class="poetry">because the enemy is coming to destroy us.&#8217;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">So I will weep with sorrow for Moab.p> <p class="poetry">I will cry out in sadness for all of Moab.p> <p class="poetry">I will moan<n id="1" /> for the people of Kir Heres.p>

<p class="poetry">So my heart moans for Moabp> <p class="poetry">like a flute playing a funeral song.p> <p class="poetry">Yes, like a flute playing a funeral song,p> <p class="poetry">my heart moans for the people of Kir Heres.p> <p class="poetry">For the wealth they have gained will perish.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">Edom will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrahp> <p class="poetry">and the towns that were around them.p> <p class="poetry">No one will live there.p> <p class="poetry">No human being will settle in it,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">For her young men will fall in her city squares.p> <p class="poetry">All her soldiers will be destroyed at that time,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Hazor will become a permanent wasteland,p> <p class="poetry">a place where only jackals live.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">No one will live there.p> <p class="poetry">No human being will settle in it.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Flee to save your lives.p> <p class="poetry">Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins.p> <p class="poetry">For it is time for the <sc>Lordsc> to wreak his revenge.p> <p class="poetry">He will pay Babylonia<n id="2" /> back for what she has done.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Foreigners living there will say,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed.p> <p class="poetry">Let&#8217;s leave Babylonia<n id="2" /> and each go back to his own country.p> <p class="poetry">For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions.p> <p class="poetry">It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.&#8217;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins.p> <p class="poetry">She has become a dry and barren desert.p> <p class="poetry">No one lives in those towns any more.p> <p class="poetry">No one even passes through them.<n id="1" />p>

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say: &#8220;You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman.<n id="1" /> Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom<n id="2" /> to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="3" /> I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you.<n id="4" />

For I will soon summon all the peoples of the kingdoms of the north,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;They will come and their kings will set up their thrones<n id="1" /> near the entrances of the gates of Jerusalem.<n id="2" /> They will attack all the walls surrounding it, and all the towns in Judah.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">They did not ask:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Where is the <sc>Lordsc> who delivered us out of Egypt,p> <p class="poetry">who brought us through the wilderness,p> <p class="poetry">through a land of desert sands and rift valleys,p> <p class="poetry">through a land of drought and deep darkness,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">through a land in which no one travels,p> <p class="poetry">and where no one lives?&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskinp> <p class="poetry">as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment,p> <p class="poetry">you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the <sc>Lordsc>p> <p class="poetry">and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.p> <p class="poetry">If you do not,<n id="2" /> my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against youp> <p class="poetry">that no one will be able to extinguish.p> <p class="poetry">That will happen because of the evil you have done.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Go up and down<n id="2" /> through the streets of Jerusalem.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Look around and see for yourselves.p> <p class="poetry">Search through its public squares.p> <p class="poetry">See if any of you can find a single personp> <p class="poetry">who deals honestly and tries to be truthful.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">If you can,<n id="5" /> then I will not punish this city.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">I am as full of anger as you are, <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I am tired of trying to hold it in.&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> answered,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Vent it, then,<n id="3" /> on the children who play in the streetp> <p class="poetry">and on the young men who are gathered together.p> <p class="poetry">Husbands and wives are to be included,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.p>

<p class="poetry">Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears.p> <p class="poetry">They are cruel and show no mercy.p> <p class="poetry">They sound like the roaring seap> <p class="poetry">as they ride forth on their horses.p> <p class="poetry">Lined up in formation like men going into battlep> <p class="poetry">to attack you, Daughter Zion.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />p>