Judgment on Moab
1 Is 15.1—16.14;25.10-12;Jr 48.1-47;Ez 25.8-11;Zep 2.8-11. The Lord said:
I will punish Moab
for countless crimes,
and I won’t change my mind.
They made lime from the bones2.1 They … bones: They dug up the bodies of kings and made lime out of them to use as whitewash on their houses and walls.
of the king of Edom.
2 Now I will send fire to destroy
the fortresses of Kerioth.2.2 Kerioth: A leading city of Moab and a center for the worship of Chemosh, the chief god of Moab.
Battle shouts and trumpet blasts
will be heard as I destroy Moab
3 with its king and leaders.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
Judgment on Judah
4 The Lord said:
I will punish Judah
for countless crimes,
and I won’t change my mind.
They have rejected my teachings
and refused to obey me.
They were led astray
by the same false gods
their ancestors worshiped.
5 Now I will send fire on Judah
and destroy the fortresses
of Jerusalem.
Judgment on Israel
6 The Lord said:
I will punish Israel
for countless crimes,
and I won’t change my mind.
They sell honest people for money,
and the needy are sold
for the price of sandals.
7 They smear the poor in the dirt
and push aside
those who are helpless.
My holy name is dishonored,
because fathers and sons sleep
with the same young women.
8 They lie down beside altars
on clothes taken
as security for loans.
And they drink wine in my temple,
wine bought with the money
they received from fines.
9 Dt 3.8-11. Israel, the Amorites2.9 Amorites: This word is used for all the people who lived in Canaan at the time Israel took over the land. were there
when you entered Canaan.
They were tall as cedars
and strong as oaks.
But I wiped them out—
I destroyed their branches
and their roots.
10 I had rescued you from Egypt,
and for forty years I had led you
through the desert.
Then I gave you the land
of the Amorites.
11 Nu 6.1-8. I chose some of you
to be prophets
and others to be Nazirites.2.11 Nazirites: People who promised the Lord that they would never drink wine or cut their hair or come in contact with a dead body.
People of Israel,
you know this is true.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
12 But you commanded the prophets
not to speak their message,
and you pressured the Nazirites
into drinking wine.
13 And so I will crush you,
just as a wagon full of grain
crushes the ground.2.13 ground: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 13.
14 No matter how fast you run,
you won’t escape.
No matter how strong you are,
you will lose your strength
and your life.
15 Even if you are an expert
with a bow and arrow,
you will retreat.
And you won’t get away alive,
not even if you run fast
or ride a horse.
16 You may be brave and strong,
but you will run away,
stripped naked.
I, the Lord, have spoken!