Study Desk

It is bad for you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have been destroyed. Your sons and daughters have been taken away in chains.

"Cry out, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, O people of Rabbah. Put on clothes made from hair and cry in sorrow. And run this way and that way inside the walls. For Malcam will go to a strange land, together with his religious leaders and his important men.

I will bring much trouble upon you," says the Lord God of All. "It will come from all around you, and each of you will be driven away. There will be no one to gather together those who run for their lives.

Run away! Turn back and live in the deep places, O people of Dedan. For I will bring the trouble of Esau upon him when I punish him.

If those who gather grapes came to you, would they not leave some grapes behind? If robbers came during the night, would they not take only what was enough for them?

For the Lord says, "If those who were not to drink the cup must drink it, will you go without being punished? You will not go without being punished, but you must drink it.

For I have promised by Myself," says the Lord, "that Bozrah will become an object of trouble, a shame, a waste, and a curse. All its cities will be destroyed forever."

I have heard word from the Lord. A man with news is sent among the nations, saying, "Gather together and come against her! Rise up for battle!

For I have made you small among the nations, hated among men.

As for the fear you have caused, the pride of your heart has fooled you, O you who live in the holes of rocks, who live on the top of the hill. Even if you make your nest as high as an eagle's, I will bring you down from there," says the Lord.

One will come up like a lion from the trees by the Jordan to rich grass fields. All at once I will make him run away from Edom. And I will make whoever I choose rule over it. For who is like Me? Who will call Me into court? What shepherd can stand against Me?"

So hear the plan the Lord has made against Edom. Listen to His plans which He has made against the people of Teman. Even the little ones of the flock will be pulled away. For sure He will make their fields an empty waste because of them.

About Damascus, He says, "Hamath and Arpad are troubled, for they have heard bad news. Their hearts have become weak. They are troubled like the sea which cannot be quiet.

For sure her young men will fall in her streets. And all the men of war will be destroyed in that day," says the Lord of All.

Their tents and their flocks will be taken. Their tent curtains, and all their good things, and their camels will be carried away for themselves. And men will call out to them, ‘Trouble is on every side!'

Run! Run far away! Live in the deep places, O people of Hazor," says the Lord. "For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you. He has thought of a way to hurt you.

For a nation has come up against her from the north. It will make her land an empty waste, and no one will live in it. Both man and animal will run away.

"In those days and at that time," says the Lord, "the sons of Israel will come, together with the sons of Judah. They will cry as they come, and will be looking for the Lord their God.

All who found them have destroyed them. Those who hate them have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their true resting place Who is right and good, the hope of their fathers.'

For I am going to raise up and bring against Babylon a group of great nations from the land of the north. They will come ready for battle against her, and she will be taken. Their arrows will be like an able soldier who does not return with empty hands.