Study Desk

"Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons Because of the wrongdoing of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth, And fill the surface of the world with cities."

In their streets they have put on sackcloth; On their housetops and in their public squares Everyone is wailing, overcome with weeping.

My heart cries out for Moab; His fugitives are as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah, For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping; Indeed, on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over their collapse.

Therefore the abundance which they have acquired and stored up, They carry it off over the brook of Arabim.

"The cities of Aroer are abandoned; They will be for herds to lie down in, And there will be no one to frighten them.

"The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, And sovereignty from Damascus And the remnant of Aram; They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel," Declares the LORD of armies.

On that day their strong cities will be like abandoned places in the forest, Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel; And the land will be a desolation.

The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, But He will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, And be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a gale.

At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning they are gone. This will be the fate of those who plunder us And the lot of those who pillage us.

They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, And for the animals of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them.

"So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will fight, each against his brother and each against his neighbor, City against city and kingdom against kingdom.

"Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confuse their strategy, So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead, And to mediums and spiritists.

On that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in great fear because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of armies, which He is going to wave over them.

And it will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry out to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will save them.

So the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD on that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it.

And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them.

"Then they will be terrified and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their pride.

For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, And from the press of battle.

All your rulers have fled together, And have been captured without the bow; All of you who were found were taken captive together, Though they had fled far away.

"So they will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the descendants, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars.