on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth Diblathaim,

on Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul, and Beth Meon,

Then I said, ¹  “There is no cure ²  for my grief! I am sick at heart!

on Kerioth and Bozrah. It will come on all the towns of Moab, both far and near.

No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother.

But you are always thinking and looking for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means. Your eyes and your heart are set on killing some innocent person and committing fraud and oppression. ¹ 

And there are times when I promise to build up and establish ¹  a nation or kingdom.

That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples. ¹  I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight. ²  Moreover, none of the people of Israel ³  are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.” ⁴ 

The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says, “I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes. ²  I will punish Egypt, its gods, and its kings. I will punish Pharaoh and all who trust in him. ³ 

I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. ¹  I will bring on them, the citizens of Jerusalem, ²  and the people of Judah all the disaster that I threatened to do to them. I will punish them because I threatened them but they still paid no heed.”’” ³ 

For the Lord who rules over all ¹  has already spoken about the two bronze pillars, ²  the large bronze basin called ‘The Sea,’ ³  and the movable bronze stands. ⁴  He has already spoken about the rest of the valuable articles that are left in this city.

Then Jeremiah replied to all the people, both men and women, who responded to him in this way. ¹ 

The people I call my own ¹  have turned on me like a lion ²  in the forest. They have roared defiantly ³  at me. So I will treat them as though I hate them. ⁴ 

Their children are always thinking about ¹  their ²  altars and their sacred poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, ³  set up beside the green trees on the high hills

There are times, Jeremiah, ¹  when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. ² 

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.

I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt with war, starvation, and disease just as I punished Jerusalem.

“Edom will become an object of horror. All who pass by it will be filled with horror; they will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ¹ 

So,” the Lord God ¹  says, “my raging fury will be poured out on this land. ²  It will be poured out on human beings and animals, on trees and crops. ³  And it will burn like a fire which cannot be extinguished.”

For I, the Lord, tell you what will happen to ¹  the children who are born here in this land and to the men and women who are their mothers and fathers. ²