<t /><p class="poetry">Bunch yourselves together like straw,<n id="1" /> you undesirable<n id="2" /> nation,p>

<p class="poetry">Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete,<n id="1" /> are as good as dead.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> has decreed your downfall,<n id="3" /> Canaan, land of the Philistines:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will destroy everyone who lives there!&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> will terrify them,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">for<n id="2" /> he will weaken<n id="3" /> all the gods of the earth.p> <p class="poetry">All the distant nations will worship the <sc>Lordsc> in their own lands.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;I destroyed<n id="1" /> nations;p> <p class="poetry">their walled cities<n id="2" /> are in ruins.p> <p class="poetry">I turned their streets into ruins;p> <p class="poetry">no one passes through them.p> <p class="poetry">Their cities are desolate;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">no one lives there.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore, as surely as I live,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, the God of Israel,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;be certain that Moab will become like Sodomp> <p class="poetry">and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.p> <p class="poetry">They will be overrun by weeds,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">filled with salt pits,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and permanently desolate.p> <p class="poetry">Those of my people who are left<n id="3" /> will plunder their belongings;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">those who are left in Judah<n id="5" /> will take possession of their land.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Flocks and herds<n id="1" /> will lie down in the middle of it,p> <p class="poetry">as well as every kind of wild animal.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Owls<n id="3" /> will sleep in the tops of its support pillars;p> <p class="poetry">they will hoot through the windows.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Rubble will cover the thresholds;<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">even the cedar work<n id="6" /> will be exposed to the elements.<n id="7" />p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore you must wait patiently<n id="1" /> for me,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;for the day when I attack and take plunder.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I have decided<n id="3" /> to gather nations togetherp> <p class="poetry">and assemble kingdoms,p> <p class="poetry">so I can pour out my fury on them &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">all my raging anger.p> <p class="poetry">For<n id="4" /> the whole earth will be consumedp> <p class="poetry">by my fiery anger.p>