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21 Judgement has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, ²²and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, ²³and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, ²⁴and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, far and near. ²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the Lord.

26 Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the Lord; let Moab wallow in his vomit; he too shall become a laughing-stock. ²⁷Israel was a laughing-stock for you, though he was not caught among thieves; but whenever you spoke of him you shook your head!

²⁸ Leave the towns, and live on the rock,
   O inhabitants of Moab!
Be like the dove that nests
   on the sides of the mouth of a gorge.
²⁹ We have heard of the pride of Moab—
   he is very proud—
of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,
   and the haughtiness of his heart.
³⁰ I myself know his insolence, says the Lord;
   his boasts are false,
   his deeds are false.
³¹ Therefore I wail for Moab;
   I cry out for all Moab;
   for the people of Kir-heres I mourn.
³² More than for Jazer I weep for you,
   O vine of Sibmah!
Your branches crossed over the sea,
   reached as far as Jazer;^*
upon your summer fruits and your vintage
   the destroyer has fallen.
³³ Gladness and joy have been taken away
   from the fruitful land of Moab;
I have stopped the wine from the wine presses;
   no one treads them with shouts of joy;
   the shouting is not the shout of joy.

34 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;^* as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For even the waters of Nimrim have become desolate. ³⁵And I will bring to an end in Moab, says the Lord, those who offer sacrifice at a high place and make offerings to their gods. ³⁶Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the people of Kir-heres; for the riches they gained have perished.

37 For every head is shaved and every beard cut off; on all the hands there are gashes, and on the loins sackcloth. ³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation; for I have broken Moab like a vessel that no one wants, says the Lord. ³⁹How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all his neighbours.
⁴⁰ For thus says the Lord:
Look, he shall swoop down like an eagle,
   and spread his wings against Moab;
⁴¹ the towns^* shall be taken
   and the strongholds seized.
The hearts of the warriors of Moab, on that day,
   shall be like the heart of a woman in labour.
⁴² Moab shall be destroyed as a people,
   because he magnified himself against the Lord.
⁴³ Terror, pit, and trap
   are before you, O inhabitants of Moab!

says the Lord.
⁴⁴ Everyone who flees from the terror
   shall fall into the pit,
and everyone who climbs out of the pit
   shall be caught in the trap.
For I will bring these things^* upon Moab
   in the year of their punishment,

says the Lord.

⁴⁵ In the shadow of Heshbon
   fugitives stop exhausted;
for a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
   a flame from the house of Sihon;
it has destroyed the forehead of Moab,
   the scalp of the people of tumult.^*
46 Woe to you, O Moab!
   The people of Chemosh have perished,
for your sons have been taken captive,
   and your daughters into captivity.
⁴⁷ Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
   in the latter days, says the Lord.
Thus far is the judgement on Moab.

Judgement on the Ammonites

49Concerning the Ammonites.

Thus says the Lord:
Has Israel no sons?
   Has he no heir?
Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad,
   and his people settled in its towns?
² Therefore, the time is surely coming,
   says the Lord,
when I will sound the battle alarm
   against Rabbah of the Ammonites;
it shall become a desolate mound,
   and its villages shall be burned with fire;
then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,
   says the Lord.

³ Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
   Cry out, O daughters^* of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth,
   lament, and slash yourselves with whips!^*
For Milcom shall go into exile,
   with his priests and his attendants.
⁴ Why do you boast in your strength?
   Your strength is ebbing,
O faithless daughter.
   You trusted in your treasures, saying,
   ‘Who will attack me?’
⁵ I am going to bring terror upon you,
   says the Lord God of hosts,
   from all your neighbours,
and you will be scattered, each headlong,
   with no one to gather the fugitives.

6 But afterwards I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, says the Lord.

Judgement on Edom

7 Concerning Edom.

Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
   Has counsel perished from the prudent?
   Has their wisdom vanished?
⁸ Flee, turn back, get down low,
   inhabitants of Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
   at the time when I punish him.
⁹ If grape-gatherers came to you,
   would they not leave gleanings?
If thieves came by night,
   even they would pillage only what they wanted.
¹⁰ But as for me, I have stripped Esau bare,
   I have uncovered his hiding-places,
   and he is not able to conceal himself.
His offspring are destroyed, his kinsfolk
   and his neighbours; and he is no more.
¹¹ Leave your orphans, I will keep them alive;
   and let your widows trust in me.

12 For thus says the Lord: If those who do not deserve to drink the cup still have to drink it, shall you be the one to go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished; you must drink it. ¹³For by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, that Bozrah shall become an object of horror and ridicule, a waste, and an object of cursing; and all her towns shall be perpetual wastes.
¹⁴ I have heard tidings from the Lord,
   and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
‘Gather yourselves together and come against her,
   and rise up for battle!’
¹⁵ For I will make you least among the nations,
   despised by humankind.
¹⁶ The terror you inspire
   and the pride of your heart have deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,^*
   who hold the height of the hill.
Although you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,
   from there I will bring you down,

says the Lord.

17 Edom shall become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. ¹⁸As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbours were overthrown, says the Lord, no one shall live there, nor shall anyone settle in it. ¹⁹Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly chase Edom^* away from it; and I will appoint over it whomsoever I choose.^* For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me? ²⁰Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. ²¹At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea.^{* 22}Look, he shall mount up and swoop down like an eagle, and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in labour.

Judgement on Damascus

23 Concerning Damascus.

Hamath and Arpad are confounded,
   for they have heard bad news;
they melt in fear, they are troubled like the sea^*
   that cannot be quiet.
²⁴ Damascus has become feeble, she turned to flee,
   and panic seized her;
anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,
   as of a woman in labour.
²⁵ How the famous city is forsaken,^*
   the joyful town!^*
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,
   and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day,

says the Lord of hosts.
²⁷ And I will kindle a fire at the wall of Damascus,
   and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.

Judgement on Kedar and Hazor

28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon defeated.

Thus says the Lord:
Rise up, advance against Kedar!
   Destroy the people of the east!
²⁹ Take their tents and their flocks,
   their curtains and all their goods;
carry off their camels for yourselves,
   and a cry shall go up: ‘Terror is all around!’
³⁰ Flee, wander far away, hide in deep places,
   O inhabitants of Hazor!

says the Lord.
For King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon
   has made a plan against you
   and formed a purpose against you.

³¹ Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,
   that lives secure,

says the Lord,
that has no gates or bars,
   that lives alone.
³² Their camels shall become booty,
   their herds of cattle a spoil.
I will scatter to every wind
   those who have shaven temples,
and I will bring calamity
   against them from every side,

says the Lord.
³³ Hazor shall become a lair of jackals,
   an everlasting waste;
no one shall live there,
   nor shall anyone settle in it.

Judgement on Elam

34 The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah.

35 Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might; ³⁶and I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; and I will scatter them to all these winds, and there shall be no nation to which the exiles from Elam shall not come. ³⁷I will terrify Elam before their enemies, and before those who seek their life; I will bring disaster upon them, my fierce anger, says the Lord. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them; ³⁸and I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy their king and officials, says the Lord.

39 But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, says the Lord.