The Hebrew Prophets

Howl, Heshbon, for spoiled is Ai, Cry, daughters of Rabbah, gird on sackcloth, Lament, and go to and fro by the hedges, For Malcam into captivity doth go, His priests and his princes together.

What--dost thou boast thyself in valleys? Flowed hath thy valley, O backsliding daughter, Who is trusting in her treasures: Who doth come in unto me?

Lo, I am bringing in upon thee a fear, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, From all round about thee, And ye have been driven out each before it, And there is no gatherer of the wandering.

And after this I turn back the captivity of the sons of Ammon, An affirmation of Jehovah.'

Concerning Edom: `Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Perished hath counsel from the intelligent? Vanished hath their wisdom?

Flee, turn, go deep to dwell, ye inhabitants of Dedan, For the calamity of Esau I brought in upon him, The time I inspected him.

If gatherers have come in to thee, They do not leave gleanings, If thieves in the night, They have destroyed their sufficiency!

For I--I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, And to be hidden he is not able, Spoiled is his seed, and his brethren, And his neighbours, and he is not.

Leave thine orphans--I do keep alive, And thy widows--on Me trust ye,

For thus said Jehovah: They whose judgment is not to drink of the cup, Do certainly drink, And thou art he that is entirely acquitted! Thou art not acquitted, for thou certainly drinkest.

For, by Myself, I have sworn, An affirmation of Jehovah, That for a desolation, for a reproach, For a waste, and for a reviling--is Bozrah, And all her cities are for wastes age-during.

A report I have heard from Jehovah, And an ambassador among nations is sent, Gather yourselves and come in against her, And rise ye for battle.

For, lo, little I have made thee among nations, Despised among men.

Thy terribleness hath lifted thee up, The pride of thy heart, O dweller in clefts of the rock, Holding the high place of the height, For thou makest high as an eagle thy nest, From thence I bring thee down, An affirmation of Jehovah.

And Edom hath been for a desolation, Every passer by her is astonished, And doth hiss because of all her plagues.

As the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, And its neighbours, said Jehovah, No one doth dwell there, Nor sojourn in her doth a son of man.

Lo, as a lion he cometh up, Because of the rising of the Jordan, Unto the enduring habitation, But I cause to rest, I cause him to run from off her, And who is chosen? concerning her I lay a charge, For who is like Me? and who conveneth Me? And who is this shepherd who standeth before Me?

Therefore, hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, That He hath counselled concerning Edom, And His devices that He hath devised Concerning the inhabitants of Teman: Drag them out do not little ones of the flock, Make desolate over them doth he not their habitation?

From the noise of their fall hath the earth shaken, The cry--at the sea of Suph is its voice heard.

Lo, as an eagle he cometh up, and flieth, And he spreadeth his wings over Bozrah, And the heart of the mighty of Edom hath been in that day, As the heart of a distressed woman!'

Concerning Damascus: Ashamed hath been Hamath and Arpad, For an evil report they have heard, They have been melted, in the sea is sorrow, To be quiet it is not able.

Feeble hath been Damascus, She turned to flee, and fear strengthened her, Distress and pangs have seized her, as a travailing woman.

How is it not left--the city of praise, The city of my joy!

Therefore fall do her young men in her broad places, And all the men of war are cut off in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts.

And I have kindled a fire against the wall of Damascus, And it consumed palaces of Ben-Hadad!'