Through the Bible – Day 274

₁This is a message about Moab:

The towns of Ar and Kir

were destroyed in a night.

Moab is left in ruins!

₂Everyone in Dibon has gone up

to the temple and the shrines

to cry and weep.

All of Moab is crying.

Heads and beards are shaved

because of what happened

at Nebo and Medeba.

₃In the towns and at home,

everyone wears sackcloth

and cries loud and long.

₄From Heshbon and Elealeh,

weeping is heard in Jahaz;

Moab's warriors scream

while trembling with fear.

₅I pity Moab!

Its people are running to Zoar

and to Eglath-Shelishiyah.

They cry on their way up

to the town of Luhith;

on the road to Horonaim

they tell of disasters.

₆The streams of Nimrim

and the grasslands

have dried up.

Every plant is parched.

₇The people of Moab are leaving,

crossing over Willow Brook,

taking everything they own

and have worked for.

₈In the towns of Eglaim

and of Beerelim

and everywhere else in Moab

mournful cries are heard.

₉The streams near Dimon

are flowing with blood.

But the Lord will bring

even worse trouble to Dimon,

because all in Moab who escape

will be attacked by lions.

₁Send lambs as gifts

to the ruler of the land.

Send them across the desert

from Sela to Mount Zion.

₂The women of Moab

crossing the River Arnon

are like a flock of birds

scattered from their nests.

₃Moab's messengers say

to the people of Judah,

“Be kind and help us!

Shade us from the heat

of the noonday sun.

Hide our refugees!

Don't turn them away.

₄Let our people live

in your country

and find safety here.”

Moab, your cruel enemies

will disappear;

they will no longer attack

and destroy your land.

₅Then a kingdom of love

will be set up,

and someone from David's family

will rule with fairness.

He will do what is right

and quickly bring justice.

₆We have heard of Moab's pride.

Its people strut and boast,

but without reason.

₇Tell everyone in Moab

to mourn for their nation.

Tell them to cry and weep

for those fine raisins

of Kir-Hareseth.

₈Vineyards near Heshbon

and Sibmah

have turned brown.

The rulers of nations

used to get drunk

on wine from those vineyards

that spread to Jazer,

then across the desert

and beyond the sea.

₉Now I mourn like Jazer

for the vineyards

of Sibmah.

I shed tears for Heshbon

and for Elealeh.

There will be no more

harvest celebrations

₁₀or joyful and happy times,

while bringing in the crops.

Singing and shouting are gone

from the vineyards.

There are no joyful shouts

where grapes were pressed.

God has silenced them all.

₁₁Deep in my heart I suffer

for Moab and Kir-Heres.

₁₂It's useless for Moab's people

to wear themselves out

by going to their altars

to worship and pray.

₁This is a message about Damascus:

Damascus is doomed!

It will end up in ruins.

₂The villages around Aroer

will be deserted,

with only sheep living there

and no one to bother them.

₃Israel will lose its fortresses.

The kingdom of Damascus

will be destroyed;

its survivors will suffer

the same fate as Israel.

The LORD All-Powerful

has promised this.

₄When that time comes,

the glorious nation of Israel

will be brought down;

its prosperous people

will be skin and bones.

₅Israel will be like wheat fields

in Rephaim Valley

picked clean of grain.

₆It will be like an olive tree

beaten with a stick,

leaving two or three olives

or perhaps four or five

on the highest

or most fruitful branches.

The LORD God of Israel

has promised this.

₁₀Israel, you have forgotten

the God who saves you,

the one who is the mighty rock

where you find protection.

You plant the finest flowers

to honour a foreign god.

₁₁The plants may sprout

and blossom

that very same morning,

but it will do you no good,

because you will suffer

endless agony.

₁₂The nations are a noisy,

thunderous sea.

₁₃But even if they roar

like a fearsome flood,

God will give the command

to turn them back.

They will be like dust,

or like straw

blowing across the hills

in a storm.

₁₄In the evening

their attack is fierce,

but by morning

they are destroyed.

This is what happens to those

who raid and rob us.

₁Downstream from Ethiopia

lies the country of Egypt,

swarming with insects.

₂Egypt sends messengers

up the River Nile

on ships made of reeds.

Send them fast to Ethiopia,

whose people are tall

and have smooth skin.

Their land is divided by rivers;

they are strong and brutal,

feared all over the world.

₃Everyone on this earth,

listen with care!

A signal will be given

on the mountains,

and you will hear a trumpet.

₄The LORD said to me,

“I will calmly look down

from my home above—

as calmly as the sun at midday

or clouds in the heat

of harvest season.”

₅Before the blossoms

can turn into grapes,

God will cut off the shoots

and hack off the branches.

₆Ethiopians will be food

for mountain eagles

during the summer

and for wild animals

during the winter.

₆Christ was truly God.

But he did not try to remain

equal with God.

₇Instead he gave up everything

and became a slave,

when he became

like one of us.

₈Christ was humble.

He obeyed God and even died

on a cross.

₉Then God gave Christ

the highest place

and honoured his name

above all others.

₁₀So at the name of Jesus

everyone will bow down,

those in heaven, on earth,

and under the earth.

₁₁And to the glory

of God the Father

everyone will openly agree,

“Jesus Christ is Lord!”