3  ^f“Prepare buckler and shield,

and advance for battle!

4  ^gHarness the horses;

mount, O horsemen!

Take your stations with your helmets,

^fpolish your spears,

put on your armor!

5  Why have I seen it?

They are dismayed

and have turned backward.

Their ^hwarriors are beaten down

and have fled in haste;

ⁱthey look not back—

^jterror on every side!

declares the Lord.

6  “The swift cannot flee away,

nor the warrior escape;

^din the north by the river Euphrates

^kthey have stumbled and fallen.

7  “Who is this, ^lrising like the Nile,

like rivers ^mwhose waters surge?

8  Egypt rises like the Nile,

like rivers ^mwhose waters surge.

He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth,

I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’

9  ⁿAdvance, O horses,

and rage, O chariots!

Let the warriors go out:

men of Cush and ^oPut who handle the shield,

^pmen of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.

10  ^qThat day is the day of the Lord God of hosts,

^ra day of vengeance,

^sto avenge himself on his foes.

^tThe sword shall devour and be sated

and drink its fill of their blood.

For the Lord God of hosts holds ^ua sacrifice

^vin the north country ^wby the river Euphrates.

11  ^xGo up to Gilead, and take ^xbalm,

O virgin daughter of Egypt!

In vain you have used many medicines;

^ythere is no healing for you.

12  The nations have heard of your shame,

and the earth is full of your cry;

^zfor warrior has stumbled against warrior;

they have both fallen together.”

14  “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in ^bMigdol;

proclaim in ^bMemphis and ^bTahpanhes;

say, ^c‘Stand ready and be prepared,

for ^dthe sword shall devour around you.’

15  Why are your mighty ones face down?

They do not stand¹

because the Lord thrust them down.

16  He made many stumble, ^fand they fell,

and they said one to another,

‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people

and to the land of our birth,

^gbecause of the sword of the oppressor.’

17  Call the name of ^hPharaoh, king of Egypt,

‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’

18  ⁱ“As I live, declares the King,

^jwhose name is the Lord of hosts,

like ^kTabor among the mountains

and like ^lCarmel by the sea, shall one come.

19  ^mPrepare yourselves baggage for exile,

O ⁿinhabitants of Egypt!

For ^oMemphis shall become a waste,

a ruin, ^pwithout inhabitant.

20  “A beautiful ^qheifer is Egypt,

but a biting fly ^rfrom the north has come upon her.

21  Even her hired soldiers in her midst

are like ^sfattened calves;

yes, they have turned and fled together;

they did not stand,

for the day of their calamity has come upon them,

^tthe time of their punishment.

22  “She makes ^ua sound like a serpent gliding away;

for her enemies march in force

and come against her with axes

^vlike those who fell trees.

23  ^vThey shall cut down her forest,

declares the Lord,

though it is impenetrable,

because ^wthey are more numerous than locusts;

they are without number.

24  The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;

she shall be delivered into the hand of ^ra people from the north.”

27  ^d“But fear not, O Jacob my servant,

nor be dismayed, O Israel,

for behold, I will save you from far away,

and your offspring from the land of their captivity.

Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,

and none shall make him afraid.

28  ^dFear not, O Jacob my servant,

declares the Lord,

for I am with you.

I will make a full end of all the nations

to which I have driven you,

but of you I will not make a full end.

^eI will discipline you in just measure,

and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

2  “Thus says the Lord:

^hBehold, waters are rising ⁱout of the north,

^hand shall become an overflowing torrent;

they shall overflow ^jthe land and all that fills it,

the city and those who dwell in it.

Men shall cry out,

and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.

3  At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,

^lat the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,

the fathers ^mlook not back to their children,

so feeble are their hands,

4  because of the day that is coming to destroy

all ^fthe Philistines,

to cut off from ⁿTyre and Sidon

every helper that remains.

For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,

^othe remnant of the coastland of ^pCaphtor.

5  ^qBaldness has come upon Gaza;

^rAshkelon has perished.

O remnant of their valley,

^show long will you gash yourselves?

6  ^tAh, sword of the Lord!

How long till you are quiet?

Put yourself into your scabbard;

rest and be still!

7  How can it¹ be quiet

^uwhen the Lord has given it a charge?

Against ^vAshkelon and against the seashore

^whe has appointed it.”

“Woe to ^yNebo, for it is laid waste!

^zKiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken;

the fortress is put to shame ^aand broken down;

2  the renown of Moab is no more.

In ^bHeshbon they planned disaster against her:

‘Come, let us cut her off ^cfrom being a nation!’

You also, O ^dMadmen, shall be brought to silence;

the sword shall pursue you.

3  “A voice! A cry from ^eHoronaim,

‘Desolation and great destruction!’

4  Moab is destroyed;

her little ones have made a cry.

5  ^eFor at the ascent of Luhith

they go up weeping;¹

for ^eat the descent of Horonaim

they have heard the distressed cry² of destruction.

6  Flee! Save yourselves!

You will be like ^fa juniper in the desert!

7  For, ^gbecause you trusted in your works and your treasures,

you also shall be taken;

and ^hChemosh ⁱshall go into exile

with ^jhis priests and his officials.

8  ^kThe destroyer shall come upon every city,

and no city shall escape;

the valley shall perish,

and ^lthe plain shall be destroyed,

as the Lord has spoken.

9  “Give wings to Moab,

for she would fly away;

her cities shall become a desolation,

with no inhabitant in them.

11  “Moab has been at ease from his youth

and has ^osettled on his dregs;

he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,

nor has he gone into exile;

so his taste remains in him,

and his scent is not changed.

14  “How do you say, ‘We are heroes

and mighty men of war’?

15  The destroyer of ^sMoab and his cities has come up,

and the choicest of his young men have ^tgone down to slaughter,

declares ^uthe King, ^uwhose name is the Lord of hosts.

16  The calamity of Moab is near at hand,

and his affliction hastens swiftly.

17  ^vGrieve for him, all you who are around him,

and all who know his name;

say, ^w‘How the mighty scepter is broken,

the glorious staff.’

18  ^x“Come down from your glory,

and sit on the parched ground,

O inhabitant of ^yDibon!

For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;

he has destroyed your strongholds.

19  ^zStand by the way ^zand watch,

O inhabitant of ^aAroer!

Ask him who flees and her who escapes;

say, ‘What has happened?’

20  Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;

^vwail and cry!

Tell it beside ^bthe Arnon,

that ^sMoab is laid waste.

28  ^r“Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,

O inhabitants of Moab!

Be ^slike the dove that nests

in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.

29  ^tWe have heard of the pride of Moab—

he is very proud—

of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,

and the haughtiness of his heart.

30  I know his insolence, declares the Lord;

^uhis boasts are false,

his deeds are false.

31  ^vTherefore I wail for Moab;

I cry out for all Moab;

for the men of ^wKir-hareseth I mourn.

32  More than for ^xJazer I weep for you,

^yO vine of ^zSibmah!

^aYour branches passed over the sea,

reached to the Sea of ^xJazer;

on your summer fruits and your grapes

the destroyer has fallen.

33  ^bGladness and joy have been taken away

from the fruitful land of Moab;

I have made the wine cease from the winepresses;

no one treads them with shouts of joy;

the shouting is not the shout of joy.

40  For thus says the Lord:

“Behold, ⁿone shall fly swiftly like an eagle

^oand spread his wings against Moab;

41  ^pthe cities shall be taken

and the strongholds seized.

^qThe heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day

like the heart of ^ra woman in her birth pains;

42  Moab shall be ^sdestroyed and be no longer a people,

because ^the magnified himself against the Lord.

43  ^uTerror, pit, and snare

are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!

declares the Lord.

44  He who flees from the terror

shall fall into the pit,

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

^vFor I will bring these things upon Moab,

the year of their punishment,

declares the Lord.

45  “In the shadow of Heshbon

fugitives stop without strength,

for fire came out from Heshbon,

flame from the house of Sihon;

it has destroyed ^wthe forehead of Moab,

the crown of ^wthe sons of tumult.

46  ^xWoe to you, O Moab!

The people of ^yChemosh are undone,

for your sons have been taken captive,

and your daughters into captivity.

47  ^zYet I will restore the fortunes of Moab

in the latter days, declares the Lord.”

Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

“Has Israel no sons?

Has he no heir?

Why then has ^bMilcom^{1 c}dispossessed Gad,

and his people settled in its cities?

2  Therefore, behold, the days are coming,

declares the Lord,

when I will cause ^dthe battle cry to be heard

against ^eRabbah of the Ammonites;

it shall become a desolate ^fmound,

and its villages shall be burned with fire;

then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,

says the Lord.

3  “Wail, O ^gHeshbon, for Ai is laid waste!

Cry out, O daughters of ^eRabbah!

^hPut on sackcloth,

lament, and run to and fro among the hedges!

For ⁱMilcom shall go into exile,

^jwith his priests and his officials.

4  Why do you boast of your valleys,²

^kO faithless daughter,

^lwho trusted in her treasures, saying,

‘Who will come against me?’

5  Behold, ^mI will bring terror upon you,

declares the Lord God of hosts,

from all who are around you,

and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him,

with none to gather the fugitives.

^p“Is wisdom no more in ^pTeman?

^qHas counsel perished from the prudent?

^qHas their wisdom vanished?

8  ^rFlee, turn back, dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of ^sDedan!

For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,

^tthe time when I punish him.

9  ^uIf grape gatherers came to you,

would they not leave ^vgleanings?

^uIf thieves came by night,

would they not destroy only enough for themselves?

10  ^wBut I have stripped Esau bare;

^uI have uncovered his hiding places,

and he is not able to conceal himself.

His children are destroyed, and his brothers,

and his neighbors; and ^xhe is no more.

11  ^yLeave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive;

^yand let your widows trust in me.”

14  ^eI have heard a message from the Lord,

and an envoy has been sent among the nations:

^f“Gather yourselves together and come against her,

and rise up for battle!

15  For behold, I will make you small among the nations,

despised among mankind.

16  The horror you inspire has deceived you,

and the pride of your heart,

you who live in the clefts of the rock,³

who hold the height of the hill.

Though you ^gmake your nest as high as the eagle’s,

I will bring you down from there,

declares the Lord.

^a“Hamath and ^bArpad are confounded,

for they have heard bad news;

they melt in fear,

^cthey are troubled like the sea that cannot be quiet.

24  ^zDamascus has become feeble, ^dshe turned to flee,

and panic seized her;

anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,

as ^yof a woman in labor.

25  How is ^ethe famous city not forsaken,

the city of my joy?

26  ^fTherefore her young men shall fall in her squares,

and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,

declares the Lord of hosts.

27  And ^gI will kindle a fire in the wall of ^zDamascus,

and it shall devour the strongholds of ^hBen-hadad.”

Thus says the Lord:

^j“Rise up, advance against ⁱKedar!

Destroy ^kthe people of the east!

29  ^lTheir tents and their flocks shall be taken,

their ^lcurtains and all their goods;

their camels shall be led away from them,

and men shall cry to them: ^m‘Terror on every side!’

30  ⁿFlee, wander far away, dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of Hazor!

declares the Lord.

For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon

has made a plan against you

and formed a purpose against you.