2 And he said: “The Lordaroars from Zion, And utters His voice from Jerusalem; The pastures of the shepherds mourn, And the top of bCarmel withers.”
Judgment on the Nations
3 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of aDamascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they have bthreshed Gilead with implements of iron.
4aBut I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, Which shall devour the palaces of bBen-Hadad.
5 I will also break the gateabar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven, And the one who1 holds the scepter from Beth Eden. The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir,” Says the Lord.
6 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of aGaza, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they took captive the whole captivity To deliver them up to Edom.
Ben-hadad - He was son and successor of Hazael. See the cruelties which they exercised upon the Israelites, II Kings 10:32; II Kings 13:7, etc., and see especially II Kings 8:12, where these cruelties are predicted. The fire threatened here is the war so successfully carried on against the Syrians by Jeroboam II., in which he took Damascus and Hamath, and reconquered all the ancient possessions of Israel. See II Kings 14:25, II Kings 14:26, II Kings 14:28.
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