2:1 THUS SAYS the Lord: For three transgressions of Moab [descendants of Lot] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it {or} revoke My word concerning it, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom [Esau's descendant] into lime. |
2:2 So I will send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, shouting, and the sound of the trumpet. |
2:3 And I will cut off the ruler from its midst and will slay all its princes with him, says the Lord. |
2:4 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Judah and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it {or} revoke My word concerning it, because they have despised {and} rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept His commandments, but their lies, after which their fathers have walked, caused them to err {and} go astray. |
2:5 So I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem. |
2:6 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it {or} revoke My word concerning it, because they have sold the [strictly] just {and} uncompromisingly righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals; |
2:7 They pant after [the sight of] the poor [reduced to such misery that they will be throwing] dust of the earth on their heads [in token of their grief]; they defraud {and} turn aside the humble [who are too meek to defend themselves]; and a man and his father will have sexual relations with the same maiden, so that My holy name is profaned. |
2:8 And they lay themselves down beside every [pagan] altar upon clothes they have taken in pledge [for indebtedness], and in the house of their God [in daring contempt of Him] they frivolously drink the wine which has been exacted from those [unjustly] fined. |
2:9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath. |
2:10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite. |
2:11 And I raised up some of your sons for prophets and some of your young men for dedicated ones [Nazirites]. Is this not true, O you children of Israel? says the Lord. |
2:12 But you gave the dedicated ones [the Nazirites] wine to drink and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. |
2:13 Behold, I am pressed under you {and} I will press you down in your place as a cart presses that is full of sheaves. |
2:14 And flight shall be lost to the swift {and} refuge shall fail him; the strong shall not retain {and} confirm his strength, neither shall the mighty deliver himself. |
2:15 Neither shall he stand who handles the bow, and he who is swift of foot shall not deliver himself; neither shall he who rides the horse deliver his life. |
2:16 And he who is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked on that day, says the Lord. |