Judgement on Moab, Judah and Israel
1 The Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four,
I will not rescind its punishment,
because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.
2 So I will send a fire on Moab,
and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth,
and Moab will die with tumult,
with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet,
3 and I will cut off the judge from among them
and will kill all its princes with him,” says the Lord.
4 The Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four,
I will not rescind its punishment,
because they have rejected the law of the Lord
and have not kept his statutes,
and have been led away by the lies
after which their fathers walked.
5 So I will send a fire on Judah,
and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”
6 The Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four,
I will not rescind its punishment,
because they have sold the righteous for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample on the heads of the poor.
Like the dust of the earth,
they deny justice to the oppressed.
A man and his father use the same maiden,
to profane my holy name.
8 They lay themselves down beside every altar
on clothes taken in pledge,
and in the house of their God
they drink the the wine of those who have been fined.
The Ingratitude of Israel
9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them,
whose height was like the height of the cedars,
and he was strong as the oaks,
yet I destroyed his fruit above
and his roots beneath.
10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,
and led you 40 years in the wilderness,
to possess the land of the Amorite.
11 I raised up some of your sons for prophets,
and some of your young men for Nazirites.
Is this not true, Israelites?” says the Lord.
12 “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink,
and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Do not prophesy!’
13 I will crush you in your place,
like a cart full of grain crushes.
14 Flight will perish from the swift,
and the strong will not strengthen his force,
nor shall the mighty deliver himself,
15 nor shall the bowman stand,
and the runner will not escape,
nor shall the horseman deliver himself,
16 and he who is courageous among the mighty
will flee naked on that day,” says the Lord.