Study Desk

"Do not be glad, O Philistia, all of you,Because the rod that struck you is broken;For from the serpent's root a viper will come out,And its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.

Wail, O gate; cry, O city;Melt away, O Philistia, all of you;For smoke comes from the north,And there is no straggler in his ranks.

My heart cries out for Moab;Those who flee from her are as far as Zoar and Eglath‑shelishiyah,For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping;Surely on the road to Horonaim they keep awake with crying in distress over their destruction.

For the waters of Nimrim are desolate.Surely the grass is dried up, the tender grass has completely ceased,There is no green thing.

For the cry has gone around the territory of Moab,Its wailing goes as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer‑elim.

For the waters of Dimon are full of blood;Surely I will put added woes upon Dimon,A lion upon those of Moab who have escaped and upon the remnant of the land.

Let the banished of Moab sojourn with you;Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer."For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased,Oppressors have completely disappeared from the land.

Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir‑haresethAs those who are utterly stricken.

For the fields of Heshbon have languished, the vines of Sibmah as well;The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clustersWhich reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts;Its tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea.

Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah;I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh;For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.

Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful orchard;In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or shouts of jubilation,No treader treads out wine in the presses,For I have made the shouting to cease.

Therefore my inner being moans like a harp for MoabAnd my inward feelings for Kir‑hareseth.

The cities of Aroer are forsaken;They will be for flocks, and they will lie down in them;And there will be no one to cause them to tremble.

In that day man will have regard for his MakerAnd his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.

He will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands,Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made,Even the Asherim and incense stands.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvationAnd have not remembered the rock of your strong defense.Therefore you plant delightful plantsAnd set them with vine branches of a strange god.

For thus Yahweh has told me,"I will look from My dwelling place quietlyLike dazzling heat in the sunshine,Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."

For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossomsAnd the flower becomes a ripening grape,Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knivesAnd remove and cut away the spreading branches.

They will be left together for mountain birds of prey,And for the beasts of the earth;And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.

There will be no work for EgyptWhich its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.