2:1 | This is what the Lord says: “Because Moab has committed three crimes* – make that four!* – I will not revoke my decree of judgment.* They burned the bones of Edom’s king into lime.* |
2:2 | So I will set Moab on fire,* and it will consume Kerioth’s* fortresses. Moab will perish* in the heat of battle* amid war cries and the blaring* of the ram’s horn.* |
2:3 | I will remove* Moab’s leader;* I will kill all Moab’s* officials* with him.” The Lord has spoken! |
2:4 | This is what the Lord says: “Because Judah has committed three covenant transgressions* – make that four!* – I will not revoke my decree of judgment.* They rejected the Lord’s law;* they did not obey his commands. Their false gods,* to which their fathers were loyal,* led them astray. |
2:5 | So I will set Judah on fire, and it will consume Jerusalem’s fortresses.”* |
2:6 | This is what the Lord says: “Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions* – make that four!* – I will not revoke my decree of judgment.* They sold the innocent* for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals.* |
2:7 | They trample* on the dirt-covered heads of the poor;* they push the destitute away.* A man and his father go to the same girl;* in this way they show disrespect* for my moral purity.* |
2:8 | They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral; they do so right* beside every altar! They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied; they do so right in the temple* of their God!* |
2:9 | For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites.* They were as tall as cedars* and as strong as oaks, but I destroyed the fruit on their branches* and their roots in the ground.* |
2:10 | I brought you up from the land of Egypt; I led you through the wilderness for forty years so you could take the Amorites’ land as your own. |
2:11 | I made some of your sons prophets and some of your young men Nazirites.* Is this not true, you Israelites?” The Lord is speaking! |
2:12 | “But you made the Nazirites drink wine;* you commanded the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy!’ |
2:13 | Look! I will press you down, like a cart loaded down with grain presses down.* |
2:14 | Fast runners will find no place to hide;* strong men will have no strength left;* warriors will not be able to save their lives. |
2:15 | Archers* will not hold their ground;* fast runners will not save their lives, nor will those who ride horses.* |
2:16 | Bravehearted* warriors will run away naked in that day.” The Lord is speaking! |