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16Send lambs
   to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
   to the mount of daughter Zion.
² Like fluttering birds,
   like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
   at the fords of the Arnon.
³ ‘Give counsel,
   grant justice;
make your shade like night
   at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts,
   do not betray the fugitive;
⁴ let the outcasts of Moab
   settle among you;
be a refuge to them
   from the destroyer.’

When the oppressor is no more,
   and destruction has ceased,
and marauders have vanished from the land,
⁵ then a throne shall be established in steadfast love
   in the tent of David,
   and on it shall sit in faithfulness
a ruler who seeks justice
   and is swift to do what is right.

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab
   —how proud he is!—
of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
   his boasts are false.
⁷ Therefore let Moab wail,
   let everyone wail for Moab.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
   for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.

⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish,
   and the vines of Sibmah,
whose clusters once made drunk
   the lords of the nations,
reached to Jazer
   and strayed to the desert;
their shoots once spread abroad
   and crossed over the sea.
⁹ Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer
   for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
   O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for the shout over your fruit harvest
   and your grain harvest has ceased.
¹⁰ Joy and gladness are taken away
   from the fruitful field;
and in the vineyards no songs are sung,
   no shouts are raised;
no treader treads out wine in the presses;
   the vintage-shout is hushed.^*
11 Therefore my heart throbs like a harp for Moab,
   and my very soul for Kir-heres.

12 When Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.

13 This was the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past. ¹⁴But now the Lord says, In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all its great multitude; and those who survive will be very few and feeble.

An Oracle concerning Egypt

19An oracle concerning Egypt.

See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
   and comes to Egypt;
the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
   and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
² I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
   and they will fight, one against the other,
   neighbour against neighbour,
   city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
³ the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
   and I will confound their plans;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead
   and the ghosts and the familiar spirits;
⁴ I will deliver the Egyptians
   into the hand of a hard master;
a fierce king will rule over them,
   says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts.

⁵ The waters of the Nile will be dried up,
   and the river will be parched and dry;
⁶ its canals will become foul,
   and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up;
   reeds and rushes will rot away.
⁷ There will be bare places by the Nile,
   on the brink of the Nile;
and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up,
   be driven away, and be no more.
⁸ Those who fish will mourn;
   all who cast hooks in the Nile will lament,
   and those who spread nets on the water will languish.
⁹ The workers in flax will be in despair,
   and the carders and those at the loom will grow pale.
¹⁰ Its weavers will be dismayed,
   and all who work for wages will be grieved.

¹¹ The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish;
   the wise counsellors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
   ‘I am one of the sages,
   a descendant of ancient kings’?
¹² Where now are your sages?
   Let them tell you and make known
   what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt.
¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools,
   and the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of its tribes
   have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴ The Lord has poured into them^*
   a spirit of confusion;
and they have made Egypt stagger in all its doings
   as a drunkard staggers around in vomit.
¹⁵ Neither head nor tail, palm branch nor reed,
   will be able to do anything for Egypt.

16 On that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts raises against them. ¹⁷And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the plan that the Lord of hosts is planning against them.

Egypt, Assyria, and Israel Blessed

18 On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.

19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the centre of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. ²⁰It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a saviour, and will defend and deliver them. ²¹The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the Lord on that day, and will worship with sacrifice and burnt-offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. ²²The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing; they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their supplications and heal them.

23 On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

24 On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.’

An Oracle concerning Tyre

23The oracle concerning Tyre.

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
   for your fortress is destroyed.^*
When they came in from Cyprus
   they learned of it.
² Be still, O inhabitants of the coast,
   O merchants of Sidon;
your messengers crossed over the sea^*
3   and were on the mighty waters;
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
   the harvest of the Nile;
   you were the merchant of the nations.
⁴ Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
   the fortress of the sea, saying:
‘I have neither laboured nor given birth,
   I have neither reared young men
   nor brought up young women.’
⁵ When the report comes to Egypt,
   they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
⁶ Cross over to Tarshish—
   wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
⁷ Is this your exultant city
   whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
   to settle far away?
⁸ Who has planned this
   against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
   whose traders were the honoured ones of the earth?
⁹ The Lord of hosts has planned it—
   to defile the pride of all glory,
   to shame all the honoured ones of the earth.
¹⁰ Cross over to your own land,
   O ships of^* Tarshish;
   this is a harbour^* no more.
¹¹ He has stretched out his hand over the sea,
   he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan
   to destroy its fortresses.
¹² He said:
You will exult no longer,
   O oppressed virgin daughter Sidon;
rise, cross over to Cyprus—
   even there you will have no rest.

13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild animals. They erected their siege-towers, they tore down her palaces, they made her a ruin.^*
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
   for your fortress is destroyed.
¹⁵From that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song about the prostitute:
¹⁶ Take a harp,
   go about the city,
   you forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody,
   sing many songs,
   that you may be remembered.
¹⁷At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her trade, and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. ¹⁸Her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the Lord; her profits^* will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who live in the presence of the Lord.