They will be my people, and I will be their God.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">The descendants of Jacob will enjoy their former privileges.p> <p class="poetry">Their community will be reestablished in my favor<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and I will punish all who try to oppress them.p>

<p class="poetry">Leave your towns, you inhabitants of Moab.p> <p class="poetry">Go and live in the cliffs.p> <p class="poetry">Be like a dove that makes its nestp> <p class="poetry">high on the sides of a ravine.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;People of Judah,<n id="1" /> get out of Babylon quickly!p> <p class="poetry">Leave the land of Babylonia!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Be the first to depart!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Be like the male goats that lead the herd.p>

<p class="poetry">But<n id="1" /> all who destroyed you will be destroyed.p> <p class="poetry">All your enemies will go into exile.p> <p class="poetry">Those who plundered you will be plundered.p> <p class="poetry">I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Their camels will be taken as plunder.p> <p class="poetry">Their vast herds will be taken as spoil.p> <p class="poetry">I will scatter to the four windsp> <p class="poetry">those desert peoples who cut their hair short at the temples.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will bring disaster against themp> <p class="poetry">from every direction,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Destructive forces will come against her horses and her<n id="1" /> chariots.p> <p class="poetry">Destructive forces will come against all the foreign troops within her;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they will be as frightened as women!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Destructive forces will come against her treasures;p> <p class="poetry">they will be taken away as plunder!p>

<p class="poetry">But you, <sc>Lordsc>, knowp> <p class="poetry">all their plots to kill me.p> <p class="poetry">Do not pardon their crimes!p> <p class="poetry">Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Let them be brought down in defeat before you!p> <p class="poetry">Deal with them while you are still angry!<n id="2" />p>

The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies<n id="1" /> just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars<n id="2" /> and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.&#8217;&#8221;p>

I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I<n id="1" /> am the <sc>Lordsc>. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly<n id="2" /> return to me.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">Those who have been killed by the <sc>Lordsc> at that timep> <p class="poetry">will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other.p> <p class="poetry">They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.p>

&#8220;Go<n id="1" /> and tell Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says, &#8220;I will carry out against this city what I promised. It will mean disaster and not good fortune for it.<n id="2" /> When that disaster happens, you will be there to see it.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Look! Enemies are gathering in the north like water rising in a river.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will be like an overflowing stream.p> <p class="poetry">They will overwhelm the whole country and everything in it like a flood.p> <p class="poetry">They will overwhelm the cities and their inhabitants.p> <p class="poetry">People will cry out in alarm.p> <p class="poetry">Everyone living in the country will cry out in pain.p>

I will see to it that all the Judean remnant that was determined to go<n id="1" /> and live in the land of Egypt will be destroyed. Here in the land of Egypt they will fall in battle<n id="2" /> or perish from starvation. People of every class<n id="3" /> will die in war or from starvation. They will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse.<n id="4" />