Study Desk

Make Moab a salt marsh,for she will run away;her towns will become a desolation,without inhabitant.

How can you say, “We are warriors—valiant men for battle”?

Mourn for him, all you surrounding nations,everyone who knows his name.Say, “How the mighty scepter is shattered,the glorious staff!”

Come down from glory; sit on parched ground,resident of the daughter of Dibon,for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;he has destroyed your fortresses.

Wasn’t Israel a laughingstock to you? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.”

Therefore, I will wail over Moab.I will cry out for Moab, all of it;he will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah,with more than the weeping for Jazer.Your tendrils have extended to the sea;they have reached to the sea and to Jazer.The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit and grape harvest.

Therefore, my heart moans like flutes for Moab, and my heart moans like flutes for the people of Kir-heres. And therefore, the wealth he has gained has perished.

For this is what the Lord says:

He who flees from the panic will fall in the pit,and he who climbs from the pitwill be captured in the trap,for I will bring against Moabthe year of their punishment.

Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated;cry out, daughters of Rabbah!Clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and lament;run back and forth within your walls,because Milcom will go into exiletogether with his priests and officials.

Run! Turn back! Lie low,residents of Dedan,for I will bring Esau’s calamity on himat the time I punish him.

For this is what the Lord says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not remain unpunished, for you must drink it too.

For by myself I have sworn”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and an example for cursing, and all its surrounding cities will become ruins forever.”

I have heard an envoy from the Lord;a messenger has been sent among the nations:Assemble yourselves to come against her.Rise up for war!

“Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. I will chase Edom away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like me? Who will issue me a summons? Who is the shepherd who can stand against me?”

They will take their tents and their flocksalong with their tent curtains and all their equipment.They will take their camels for themselves.They will call out to them,“Terror is on every side!”

For a nation from the north will attack her;it will make her land desolate.No one will be living in it—both people and animals will escape.

For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylonan assembly of great nations from the north country.They will line up in battle formation against her;from there she will be captured.Their arrows will be like a skilled warriorwho does not return empty-handed.

Line up in battle formation around Babylon,all you archers!Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow,for she has sinned against the Lord.