¹The LORD says :

“For three transgressions of Moab , yes, for four ,

I will not turn away its punishment,

because he burnt the bones of the king of Edom into lime ;

²but I will send a fire on Moab ,

and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth ;

and Moab will die with tumult , with shouting , and with the sound of the trumpet ;

³and I will cut off the judge from amongst them ,

and will kill all its princes with him ,”

says the LORD .

⁴The LORD says :

“For three transgressions of Judah , yes, for four ,

I will not turn away its punishment,

because they have rejected the LORD ’s law ,

and have not kept his statutes ,

and their lies have led them astray ,

after which their fathers walked ;

⁵but I will send a fire on Judah ,

and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem .”

⁶The LORD says :

“For three transgressions of Israel , yes, for four ,

I will not turn away its punishment,

because they have sold the righteous for silver ,

and the needy for a pair of sandals ;

⁷They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth

and deny justice to the oppressed.

A man and his father use the same maiden , to profane my holy name .

⁸They lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge .

In the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined .

⁹Yet 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 .

¹⁰Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt

and led you forty years in the wilderness ,

to possess the land of the Amorite.

¹¹I raised up some of your sons for prophets ,

and some of your young men for Nazirites .

Isn’t this true ,

you children of Israel ?” says the LORD .

¹²“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink ,

and commanded the prophets , saying, ‘Don’t prophesy !’

¹³Behold , I will crush you in your place ,[#2:13 “Behold”, from “”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.]

as a cart crushes that is full of grain.

¹⁴Flight will perish from the swift .

The strong won’t strengthen his force .

The mighty won’t deliver himself .

¹⁵He who handles the bow won’t stand .

He who is swift of foot won’t escape .

He who rides the horse won’t deliver himself .

¹⁶He who is courageous amongst the mighty

will flee away naked on that day ,”

says the LORD .