God’s Message to Moab (continued)

16 You people should send a gift to the king of the land. You should send a lamb from Sela, through the desert, to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion.* 2 The women of Moab* try to cross the river Arnon. They run from one place to another looking for help. They are like little birds lost on the ground after their nest has fallen from a tree. 3 They say, “Help us! Tell us what to do! Protect us {from our enemies} like shade protects us from the noon sun. We are running from our enemies. Hide us! Don’t give us to our enemies.” 4 Those people from Moab were forced to leave their homes. So let them live in your land. Hide them {from their enemies}. The looting will stop. The enemy will be defeated. The men that hurt other people will be gone from the land. ⁵Then a new king will come. This king will be from David’s family.* He will be loyal. He will be loving and kind. This king will judge fairly. He will do things that are right and good. ⁶We have heard that the people of Moab* are very proud and conceited. These people are violent and they boast. But the boasts are only empty words. ⁷{The whole country of Moab will suffer because of that pride.} All the people of Moab will cry. The people will be sad—they will want the things they had in the past. They will want the fig-cakes made in Kir Hareseth.* ⁸{The people will be sad} because the fields of Heshbon and the vines of Sibmah are not able to grow grapes. Foreign rulers have cut down the grapevines. The {enemy armies have} spread far to the city of Jazer and into the desert. And they have spread down to the sea.*

A Sad Song about Moab

⁹“I will cry with the people of Jazer and Sibmah because the grapes have been destroyed. I will cry with the people of Heshbon and Elealeh because there will be no harvest. There will be no summer fruit. And there will be no shouts of joy. ¹⁰There will be no joy and singing in Carmel.* I will end the happiness at harvest time. The grapes are ready to become wine. But they will all be wasted. ¹¹So, I am very sad for Moab. I am very sad for Kir Heres.* I am very, very sad for these cities. ¹²The people of Moab will go to their places of worship.* The people will try to pray. But they will see what happened, and they will be too weak to pray.” ¹³The Lord said these things about Moab many times. ¹⁴And now the Lord says, “In three years (the way a hired helper counts time) all those people and the things they are proud of will be gone. There will be a few people left, but there will not be many.”

Daughter of Zion Another name for Jerusalem. Moab A country east of Israel. David’s family The royal family of Judah. God promised that men from David’s family would be kings in Judah. Moab A country east of Israel. Kir Hareseth A city in the country Moab. Foreign rulers … the sea Or, “These grapes made many foreign rulers drunk. The vines spread far to the city Jazer and into the desert. The vines have spread down to the sea.” Carmel A name that means, “God’s vineyard.” There are several cities and a mountain in north Israel with this name. Kir Heres This is Kir Hareseth, a city in the country of Moab. Kir Heres means “a city chosen to be destroyed.” places of worship Places for worshiping God or false gods. These places were usually on the hills and mountains.

God’s Message to Aram

17 This is the sad message for Damascus.* The Lord says these things will happen to Damascus: “Damascus is now a city. But Damascus will be destroyed. Only destroyed buildings will be left in Damascus. ²People will leave the cities of Aroer.* Flocks of sheep will wander freely in those empty towns; there will be no person to bother them. ³The fort cities of Ephraim (Israel) will be destroyed. The government in Damascus will be finished. The same thing that happens to Israel, will happen to Aram.* All the important people will be taken away.” The Lord All-Powerful said those things would happen. ⁴At that time, Jacob’s (Israel’s) wealth will all be gone. Jacob will be like a man who was sick and became weak and thin. ⁵That time will be like grain harvest in Rephaim Valley.* The workers gather plants that grow in the field. Then they cut the heads of grain from the plants. And they collect the grain.⁶That time will also be like the time people harvest olives. People knock olives from olive trees. But a few olives are usually left at the top of the tree. Four or five olives are left on some of the top branches. It will be the same for those cities. The Lord All-Powerful said those things. ⁷At that time, people will look up to {God}, the One who made them. Their eyes will see the Holy One of Israel. ⁸The people will not trust the great things they have made. They will not go to the special gardens* and altars* {they made for false gods}. ⁹At that time, all the fort cities will be empty. Those cities will be like the mountains and the forests* in the land before the people of Israel came. {In the past,} all the people ran away because the people of Israel were coming. {In the future,} the country will be empty again. ¹⁰This will happen because you have forgotten the God who saves you. You have not remembered that God is your place of safety. You brought some very good grapevines from faraway places. You can plant those grapevines, but those plants will not grow. ¹¹You will plant your grapevines one day and try to make them grow. The next day the plants will begin to grow. But at harvest time, you will go to gather the fruit from the plants, and you will see that everything is dead. A sickness will kill all the plants. ¹²Listen to the many, many people! They are crying loud like the noise from the sea. Listen to the noise. It is like the crashing and crashing of waves in the sea. ¹³{And the people will be like those waves—} God will speak harshly to the people, and they will run away. The people will be like chaff* being chased by the wind. The people will be like tumbleweeds* being chased by a storm. The wind blows and the weeds go far away. ¹⁴That night, the people will be frightened. Before morning, nothing will be left. So our enemies will get nothing. They will come to our land, but nothing will be there.

Damascus A city in the country of Aram (Syria). Aroer A place in the country of Aram (Syria). Aram A country north of Israel. Rephaim Valley A valley southwest of Jerusalem. special gardens Gardens where people worshiped false gods. altars These might be altars for burning incense or they might be altars for worshiping a special false god. mountains and the forests This might mean “The Horite and Amorite people.” chaff The seed coverings and stems separated from the seeds of plants like wheat or barley. Farmers saved the seeds and let the wind blow the useless chaff away. tumbleweeds A small plant with short roots. When a strong wind blows, the plant is pulled loose and blown away.

God’s Message to Ethiopia

18 Look at the land along the rivers of Ethiopia.* {The land is filled with insects; you can hear} their buzzing wings. ²That land sends people across the sea in reed boats.* Fast messengers, go to the people that are tall and strong! (People in all places are afraid of these tall and strong people. They are a powerful nation. Their nation defeats other nations. They are in a country divided by rivers.) ³{Warn those people that something bad will happen to them.} All the people in the world will see this thing happen to that nation. People will see this thing clearly like a flag raised on a mountain. All the people living on earth will hear about the thing that happens to these tall people. They will hear it clearly like the noise from a horn before a battle. ⁴The Lord said, “I will be in the place prepared for me.* I will quietly watch these things happen: ⁵On a beautiful summer day, at noon, people will be resting. (It will be during the hot harvest time when there is no rain, but only early morning dew.) Then something terrible will happen. The time will be after the flowers have bloomed. The new grapes will be budding and growing. But before harvest, the enemy will come and cut the plants. The enemy will break the vines and throw them away. ⁶The vines will be left for the birds from the mountains and the wild animals to eat. Birds will live on the vines during the summer. And that winter, wild animals will eat the vines.” ⁷At that time, a special offering will be brought to the Lord All-Powerful. The offering will come from the people that are tall and strong. (People in all places are afraid of these tall and strong people. They are a powerful nation. Their nation defeats other nations. They are in a country divided by rivers.) This offering will be brought to the Lord’s place, Mount Zion.*

Ethiopia Also called Cush, a country in Africa, by the Red Sea. reed boats These boats were made by tying many, many reeds (a type of water plant) together. the place prepared for me Probably the temple in Jerusalem. Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on. Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.

God’s Message to Egypt

19 The sad message about Egypt: Look! The Lord is coming on a fast cloud. The Lord will enter Egypt, and all the false gods of Egypt will shake {with fear. Egypt was brave}, but that courage will melt away like hot wax. ²{God says,} “I will cause the people of Egypt to fight against themselves. Men will fight their brothers. Neighbors will be against neighbors. Cities will be against cities. States will be against states.* ³The people of Egypt will be confused. The people will ask their false gods and wise men what they should do. The people will ask their wizards and magicians. But their advice will be worthless.” ⁴The Master, the Lord All-Powerful, says, “I (God) will give Egypt to a hard master. A powerful king will rule over the people. ⁵The Nile River will become dry. The water will be gone from the sea. ⁶All the rivers will smell very bad.* The canals in Egypt will become dry and the water will be gone. All the water plants will rot. ⁷All the plants along the river banks will die and blow away. Even the plants at the widest part of the river will be dead. ⁸“The fishermen, all the people that catch fish from the Nile River, will become sad and they will cry. They depend on the Nile River for their food, but it will be dry. ⁹All the people that make cloth will be very, very sad. These people need flax* to make linen.* {But the river will be dry, and these plants will not grow.} ¹⁰The people that make dams to save water will have no work, so they will be sad. ¹¹“The leaders of the city Zoan are fools. Pharaoh’s ‘wise advisers’ give wrong advice. Those leaders say they are wise. They say they are from the old family of the kings. But they are not wise like they think.” ¹²Egypt, where are your wise men? Those wise men should learn what the Lord All-Powerful has planned for Egypt. They should be the people to tell you what will happen. ¹³The leaders of Zoan have been fooled. The leaders of Noph have believed false things. So the leaders lead Egypt the wrong way. ¹⁴The Lord made the leaders confused. They wander and lead Egypt in the wrong ways. Everything the leaders do is wrong. They are like drunk people rolling with sickness on the ground. ¹⁵There is nothing the leaders can do. (These leaders are “the heads and the tails.” They are “the tops and the stalks of plants.”)* ¹⁶At that time, the Egyptians will be like scared women. They will be afraid of the Lord All-Powerful. The Lord will raise his arm to punish the people, and they will be afraid. ¹⁷The land of Judah will be a place for all the people in Egypt to fear. Any person in Egypt that hears the name Judah will be scared. This will happen because the Lord All-Powerful has planned terrible things to happen to Egypt. ¹⁸At that time, there will be five cities in Egypt where people speak the language of Canaan (the Jewish language). One of these cities will be named “Destruction City.”* The people will promise to follow the Lord All-Powerful. ¹⁹At that time, there will be an altar* for the Lord in the middle of Egypt. At the border of Egypt there will be a monument to show honor to the Lord. ²⁰This will be a sign to show that the Lord All-Powerful does powerful things. Any time the people cry for help from the Lord, the Lord will send help. The Lord will send a person to save and defend the people. That person will rescue the people from other people that do wrong things to them. ²¹At that time, the people in Egypt will truly know the Lord. The people of Egypt will love God. The people will serve God and give many sacrifices.* They will make promises* to the Lord. And they will keep those promises. ²²The Lord will punish the people of Egypt. And then the Lord will heal (forgive) them, and they will come back to the Lord. The Lord will listen to their prayers and heal (forgive) them. ²³At that time, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria.* Then people from Assyria will go to Egypt, and people from Egypt will go to Assyria. Egypt will work with Assyria.* ²⁴At that time, Israel, Assyria, and Egypt will join together and control the land. This will be a blessing for the land. ²⁵The Lord All-Powerful will bless these countries. He will say, “Egypt, you are my people. Assyria, I made you. Israel, I own you. You are all blessed!”

States will be against states Literally, kingdom will be against kingdom. This means Egyptians will fight other Egyptians. smell very bad In Hebrew this is like a name for the Nile River. flax A plant used to make linen. linen A type of cloth. the heads and … stalks of plants See Isa. 9:14–15. Destruction City This name is like a name meaning “Sun City.” This is probably the city On (Heliopolis). altar A stone table used for burning sacrifices as gifts to God. sacrifices Gifts to God. Sometimes these were special kinds of animals that were killed and burned on an altar. promises A special kind of promise to God. See Lev. 22:18–33. Assyria This was a powerful nation northeast of Israel. Egypt will work with Assyria Or, Egypt will worship with Assyria.