This is the burden against Moab:
Ar in Moab is ruined,destroyed in a night!Kir in Moab is devastated,destroyed in a night!Dibon goes up to its templeto weep at its high places.Moab wails over Nebo,as well as over Medeba.
Every head is shaved,every beard is cut off.In its streets they wear sackcloth;on the rooftops and in the public squaresthey all wail, falling down weeping.Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;their voices are heard as far as Jahaz.Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out;their souls tremble within.
My heart cries out over Moab;her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,as far as Eglath-shelishiyah.With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith;they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.The waters of Nimrim are dried up,and the grass is withered;the vegetation is gone,and the greenery is no more.So they carry their wealth and belongingsover the Brook of the Willows.
For their outcry echoes to the border of Moab.Their wailing reaches Eglaim;it is heard in Beer-elim.The waters of Dimon are full of blood,but I will bring more upon Dimon—a lion upon the fugitives of Moaband upon the remnant of the land.Send the tribute lambsto the ruler of the land,from Sela in the desertto the mount of Daughter Zion.Like fluttering birdspushed out of the nest,so are the daughters of Moabat the fords of the Arnon:“Give us counsel;render a decision.Shelter us at noondaywith shade as dark as night.Hide the refugees;do not betray the one who flees.Let my fugitives stay with you;be a refuge for Moab from the destroyer.”
When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ceased,and the oppressors have vanished from the land,in loving devotion a throne will be establishedin the tent of David.A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousnesswill sit on it in faithfulness.
We have heard of Moab’s pomposity,his exceeding pride and conceit,his overflowing arrogance.But his boasting is empty.Therefore let Moab wail;let them wail together for Moab.Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth,you who are utterly stricken.For the fields of Heshbon have withered,along with the grapevines of Sibmah.The rulers of the nationshave trampled its choicest vines,which had reached as far as Jazerand spread toward the desert.Their shoots had spread outand passed over the sea.
So I weep with Jazerfor the vines of Sibmah;I drench Heshbon and Elealehwith my tears.Triumphant shouts have fallen silentover your summer fruit and your harvest.Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard;no one sings or shouts in the vineyards.No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses;I have put an end to the cheering.Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp,my inmost being for Kir-heres.When Moab appears on the high place,when he wearies himselfand enters his sanctuary to pray,it will do him no good.
This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab. And now the LORD says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble.”
This is the burden against Damascus:
“Behold, Damascus is no longer a city;it has become a heap of ruins.The cities of Aroer are forsaken;they will be left to the flocks,which will lie down with no one to fear.The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,and the sovereignty from Damascus.The remnant of Aram will belike the splendor of the Israelites,”declares the LORD of Hosts.“In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade,and the fat of his body will waste away,as the reaper gathers the standing grainand harvests the ears with his arm,as one gleans heads of grainin the Valley of Rephaim.Yet gleanings will remain,like an olive tree that has been beaten—two or three berries atop the tree,four or five on its fruitful branches,”declares the LORD, the God of Israel.In that day men will look to their Makerand turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.They will not look to the altarsthey have fashioned with their handsor to the Asherahs and incense altarsthey have made with their fingers.
In that day their strong citieswill be like forsaken thickets and summits,abandoned to the Israelitesand to utter desolation.
For you have forgotten the God of your salvationand failed to remember the Rock of your refuge.Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plotsand set out cuttings from exotic vines—though on the day you plantyou make them grow,and on that morningyou help your seed sprout—yet the harvest will vanishon the day of disease and incurable pain.
Alas, the tumult of many peoples;they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations;they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.The nations rage like the rush of many waters.He rebukes them, and they flee far away,driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,like tumbleweeds before a gale.In the evening, there is sudden terror!Before morning, they are no more!This is the portion of those who loot usand the lot of those who plunder us.Woe to the land of whirring wings,along the rivers of Cush,which sends couriers by sea,in papyrus vessels on the waters.
Go, swift messengers,to a people tall and smooth-skinned,to a people widely feared,to a powerful nation of strange speech,whose land is divided by rivers.All you people of the worldand dwellers of the earth,when a banner is raised on the mountains,you will see it;when a ram’s horn sounds,you will hear it.
For this is what the LORD has told me:
“I will quietly look on from my dwelling place,like shimmering heat in the sunshine,like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
For before the harvest, when the blossom is goneand the flower becomes a ripening grape,he will cut off the shoots with a pruning knifeand remove and discard the branches.They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey,and to the beasts of the land.The birds will feed on them in summer,and all the wild animals in winter.
At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts—
from a people tall and smooth-skinned,from a people widely feared,from a powerful nation of strange speech,whose land is divided by rivers—
to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of Hosts.
This is the burden against Egypt:
Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud;he is coming to Egypt.The idols of Egypt will tremble before him,and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.
“So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian;brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor,city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them,and I will frustrate their plans,so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead,to mediums and spiritists.I will deliver the Egyptians into the hands of harsh masters,and a fierce king will rule over them,”declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.The waters of the Nile will dry up,and the riverbed will be parched and empty.The canals will stink;the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up;the reeds and rushes will wither.The bulrushes by the Nile,by the mouth of the river,and all the fields sown along the Nile,will wither, blow away, and be no more.
Then the fishermen will mourn,all who cast a hook into the Nile will lament,and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.The workers in flax will be dismayed,and the weavers of fine linen will turn pale.The workers in cloth will be dejected,and all the hired workers will be sick at heart.
The princes of Zoan are mere fools;Pharaoh’s wise counselors give senseless advice.How can you say to Pharaoh,“I am one of the wise,a son of eastern kings”?Where are your wise men now?Let them tell you and revealwhat the LORD of Hosts has planned against Egypt.
The princes of Zoan have become fools;the princes of Memphis are deceived.The cornerstones of her tribeshave led Egypt astray.The LORD has poured into hera spirit of confusion.Egypt has been led astray in all she does,as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.There is nothing Egypt can do—head or tail, palm or reed.
In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the LORD of Hosts, when he brandishes it against them. The land of Judah will bring terror to Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble over what the LORD of Hosts has planned against it.
In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of Hosts. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.
In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the center of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near her border. It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender to rescue them. The LORD will make himself known to Egypt, and on that day Egypt will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them.
And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will hear their prayers and heal them.
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.
In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing upon the earth. The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”