Study Desk

This is the message which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at Jeremiah's dictation, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying:

For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of armies, A day of vengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His foes; And the sword will devour and be satisfied, And drink its fill of their blood; For there will be a slaughter for the Lord GOD of armies, In the land of the north at the river Euphrates.

"They shouted there, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is nothing but a big noise; He has let the appointed time pass by!'

"Make your baggage ready for exile, Daughter living in Egypt, For Memphis will become a desolation; It will be destroyed and deprived of inhabitants.

"Egypt is a pretty heifer, But a horsefly is coming from the north—it is coming!

"Its sound moves along like a serpent; For they move on like an army And come to her as woodcutters with axes.

"Jacob My servant, do not fear," declares the LORD, "For I am with you. For I will make a complete destruction of all the nations Where I have driven you, Yet I will not make a complete destruction of you; But I will correct you properly And by no means leave you unpunished."

"There is no longer praise for Moab; In Heshbon they have devised disaster against her: 'Come and let's cut her off from being a nation!' You too, Madmen, will be silenced; The sword will follow you.

"Moab is broken, Her little ones have sounded out a cry of distress.

"Flee, save yourselves, So that you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

"A destroyer will come to every city, So that no city will escape; The valley also will be ruined And the plateau will be destroyed, As the LORD has said.

"Give wings to Moab, For she will flee away; And her cities will become a desolation, Without inhabitants in them.

"Mourn for him, all you who live around him, And all of you who know his name; Say, 'How the mighty scepter has been broken, A staff of splendor!'

"Make him drunk, for he has become arrogant toward the LORD; so Moab will vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock.

"Now was Israel not a laughingstock to you? Or was he caught among thieves? For whenever you speak about him you shake your head in scorn.

"Leave the cities and live among the rocky cliffs, You inhabitants of Moab, And be like a dove that nests Beyond the mouth of the chasm.

"Therefore My heart makes a sound like flutes for Moab; My heart also makes a sound like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have lost the abundance it produced.

"How shattered it is! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back—he is ashamed! So Moab will become a laughingstock and an object of terror to all around him."

"Kerioth has been captured And the strongholds have been seized, So the hearts of the warriors of Moab on that day Will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

"Moab will be destroyed from being a people Because he has become arrogant toward the LORD.