<p class="poetry">Why do you constantly go aboutp> <p class="poetry">changing your political allegiances?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You will get no help from Egyptp> <p class="poetry">just as you got no help from Assyria.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The people of Moab will be disappointed by their god Chemosh.p> <p class="poetry">They will be as disappointed as the people of Israel werep> <p class="poetry">when they put their trust in the calf god at Bethel.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">May those who persecute me be disgraced.p> <p class="poetry">Do not let me be disgraced.p> <p class="poetry">May they be dismayed.p> <p class="poetry">Do not let me be dismayed.p> <p class="poetry">Bring days of disaster on them.p> <p class="poetry">Bring on them the destruction they deserve.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Your wise men will be put to shame.p> <p class="poetry">They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Since they have rejected the word of the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">what wisdom do they really have?p>

<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>

<p class="poetry">They are dismayed because the ground is cracked<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">because there has been no rain in the land.p> <p class="poetry">The farmers, too, are dismayedp> <p class="poetry">and bury their faces in their hands.p>

<p class="poetry">But Babylonia will be put to great shame.p> <p class="poetry">The land where you were born<n id="1" /> will be disgraced.p> <p class="poetry">Indeed,<n id="2" /> Babylonia will become the least important of all nations.p> <p class="poetry">It will become a dry and barren desert.p>

<p class="poetry">Are they ashamed because they have done such shameful things?p> <p class="poetry">No, they are not at all ashamed.p> <p class="poetry">They do not even know how to blush!p> <p class="poetry">So they will die, just like others have died.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things?p> <p class="poetry">No, they are not at all ashamed!p> <p class="poetry">They do not even know how to blush!p> <p class="poetry">So they will die just like others have died.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught,p> <p class="poetry">so the people of Israel<n id="1" /> will suffer dishonor for what they have done.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So will their kings and officials,p> <p class="poetry">their priests and their prophets.p>

<p class="poetry">For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion.p> <p class="poetry">They will wail,<n id="1" /> &#8216;We are utterly ruined!<n id="2" /> We are completely disgraced!p> <p class="poetry">For our houses have been torn downp> <p class="poetry">and we must leave our land.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">The leading men of the cities send their servants for water.p> <p class="poetry">They go to the cisterns,<n id="1" /> but they do not find any water there.p> <p class="poetry">They return with their containers<n id="2" /> empty.p> <p class="poetry">Disappointed and dismayed, they bury their faces in their hands.<n id="3" />p>

<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>

<p class="poetry">My judgment will carry off all your leaders like a storm wind!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Your allies will go into captivity.p> <p class="poetry">Then you will certainly<n id="2" /> be disgraced and put to shamep> <p class="poetry">because of all the wickedness you have done.p>

<p class="poetry">For after we turned away from you we repented.p> <p class="poetry">After we came to our senses<n id="1" /> we beat our breasts in sorrow.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">We are ashamed and humiliatedp> <p class="poetry">because of the disgraceful things we did previously.&#8217;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Oh, how shattered Moab will be!p> <p class="poetry">Oh, how her people will wail!p> <p class="poetry">Oh, how she will turn away<n id="1" /> in shame!p> <p class="poetry">Moab will become an object of ridicule,p> <p class="poetry">a terrifying sight to all the nations that surround her.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke<n id="1" /> about Damascus.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The people of Hamath and Arpad<n id="3" /> will be dismayedp> <p class="poetry">because they have heard bad news.p> <p class="poetry">Their courage will melt away because of worry.p> <p class="poetry">Their hearts will not be able to rest.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;So the time will certainly come<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when I will punish the idols of Babylon.p> <p class="poetry">Her whole land will be put to shame.p> <p class="poetry">All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8216;We<n id="1" /> are ashamed because we have been insulted.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Our faces show our disgrace.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For foreigners have invadedp> <p class="poetry">the holy rooms<n id="4" /> in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">The mother who had seven children<n id="1" /> will grow faint.p> <p class="poetry">All the breath will go out of her.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Her pride and joy will be taken from her in the prime of their life.p> <p class="poetry">It will seem as if the sun had set while it was still day.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">She will suffer shame and humiliation.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">I will cause any of them who are still left alivep> <p class="poetry">to be killed in war by the onslaughts of their enemies,&#8221;<n id="5" />p> <p class="bodytext">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>