Study Desk

"Moab will be crushed. Her children will cry out in distress.

But I will strip everything away from Esau's descendants. I will uncover their hiding places so they cannot hide. Their children, relatives, and neighbors will all be destroyed. Not one of them will be left!

ה (He) Her foes subjugated her; her enemies are at ease. For the Lord afflicted her because of her many acts of rebellion. Her children went away captive before the enemy.

ע (Ayin) I weep because of these things; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one in sight who can comfort me or encourage me. My children are desolated because an enemy has prevailed.

ר (Resh) Look, O Lord ! I am distressed; my stomach is in knots! My heart is pounding inside me. Yes, I was terribly rebellious! Out in the street the sword bereaves a mother of her children; Inside the house death is present.

כ (Kaf) My eyes are worn out from weeping; my stomach is in knots. My heart is poured out on the ground due to the destruction of my helpless people; children and infants faint in the town squares.

ל (Lamed) Children say to their mothers, "Where are food and drink?" They faint like a wounded warrior in the city squares. They die slowly in their mothers' arms.

ד (Dalet) The infant's tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth due to thirst; little children beg for bread, but no one gives them even a morsel.

י (Yod) The hands of tenderhearted women cooked their own children, who became their food, when my people were destroyed.

I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will take your children from you. Plague and bloodshed will overwhelm you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord , have spoken!"

Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women—wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!" So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.

"Suppose I were to send wild animals through the land and kill its children, leaving it desolate, without travelers due to the wild animals.

you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.

This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness was uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children you have given to them,

"‘But I said to their children in the wilderness, "Do not follow the practices of your fathers; do not observe their regulations, nor defile yourselves with their idols.

"‘But the children rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out (the one who obeys them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness.

I will lead people, my people Israel, across you; they will possess you and you will become their inheritance. No longer will you bereave them of their children.

"‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because they are saying to you, "You are a devourer of men, and bereave your nation of children,"

therefore you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the sovereign Lord .

They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived; they will live in it—they and their children and their grandchildren forever. David my servant will be prince over them forever.