Study Desk

For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of hosts, A day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. And the sword will devour and be satiated And drink its fill of their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice [like that of a great sin offering] In the north country by the river Euphrates.

Go up to Gilead and obtain [healing] balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you use many medicines; For you there is no healing or remedy.

The nations have heard of your disgrace and shame, And your cry [of distress] has filled the earth. For warrior has stumbled against warrior, And both of them have fallen together.

"Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol, And proclaim in Memphis and in Tahpanhes; Say, 'Take your stand and get yourself ready, For the sword has devoured those around you.'

"O you daughter who dwells in Egypt and you who dwell with her, Prepare yourselves [with all you will need] to go into exile, For Memphis will become desolate; It will even be burned down and without inhabitant.

"Also her mercenaries in her army Are like fattened calves, For they too have turned back and have fled together; They did not stand [their ground], Because the day of their disaster has come upon them, The time of their punishment.

"The sound [of Egypt fleeing from the enemy] is like [the rustling of] an escaping serpent, For her foes advance with a mighty army And come against her like woodcutters with axes.

"But as for you, do not fear, O My servant Jacob, Nor be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from [your captivity in] a distant land, And your descendants from the land of their exile; And Jacob will return and be quiet and secure, And no one will make him afraid.

"Do not fear, O Jacob My servant," says the LORD, "For I am with you. For I will make a full and complete end of all the nations To which I have driven you; Yet I will not make a full end of you. But I will discipline and correct you appropriately And by no means will I declare you guiltless or leave you unpunished."

"Because of the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of the war-horses [of the Babylonian king], The rattling of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers have not looked and turned back for their children, So weak are their hands [with terror]

Because of the day that is coming To destroy all the Philistines And to cut off from Tyre and Sidon Every ally who remains. For the LORD is going to destroy the Philistines, The remnant [still surviving] of the coastland of Caphtor.

Concerning Moab. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Woe (judgment is coming) to [the city of] Nebo, for it has been destroyed! Kiriathaim has been shamed, it has been captured; Misgab [the high fortress] has been shamed, broken down and crushed.

"For the Ascent of Luhith Will be climbed by [successive groups of] fugitives with continual weeping; For on the descent of Horonaim They have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.

"For because you have trusted in your works [your hand-made idols] and in your treasures [instead of in God], Even you yourself will be captured; And Chemosh [your disgusting god cannot rescue you, but] will go away into exile [along with the fugitives] Together with his priests and his princes.

"Give a gravestone to Moab, For she will fall into ruins; Her cities (pastures, farms) will be desolate, Without anyone to live in them.

"Show sympathy for him, all you [nations] who are around him, And all you [distant nations] who know his name; Say, 'How has the mighty scepter [of national power] been broken, And the splendid staff [of glory]!'

"Come down from your glory, O Daughter living in Dibon, And sit on the parched ground [among the thirsty]! For the destroyer of Moab has advanced against you; He has destroyed your strongholds.

"Moab is shamed, for she has been broken down and shattered. Wail and cry out! Tell by [the banks of] the Arnon That Moab has been destroyed.

"Make him drunk, for he has become arrogant and magnified himself against the LORD [by denying Reuben's occupation of the land the LORD had assigned him]. Moab also will wallow in his vomit, and he too shall become a laughingstock.

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