29. Rejoice not so fully, O Philistia, that the rod which smote thee is broken to pieces; for out of the serpent’s root comes forth a basilisk, and its fruit is a flying dragon. 30. And the poorest of the poor will feed, and needy ones lie down in peace; and I kill thy root through hunger, and he slays thy remnant.
31 Howl, O gate! cry, O city! O Philistia, thou must melt entirely away; for from the north cometh smoke, and there is no isolated one among his hosts. 32. And what answer do the messengers of the nations bring? that Jehovah hath founded Zion, and that the afflicted of His people are hidden therein.
the oracle concerning moab.—chaps. xv., xvi.
XV.—1. Oracle concerning Moab! for in a night Ar-Moab is laid waste, destroyed; for in a night Kir-Moab is laid waste, destroyed. 2. They go up to the temple-house and Dibon, up to the heights to weep: upon Nebo and upon Medebah of Moab there is weeping: on all heads baldness, every beard is mutilated. 3. In the markets of Moab they gird themselves with sackcloth; on the roofs of the land, and in the streets, everything wails, melting into tears. 4. Heshbon cries, and ’Elâle; even to Jahaz they hear their howling; even the armed men of Moab break out into mourning thereat; its soul trembles within it. 5. My heart, towards Moab it crieth out; its bolts reach to Zoar, the three-year-old heifer. For the mountain-slope of Luhith they ascend with weeping; for on the road to Horonaijim they lift up a cry of despair. 6. For the waters of Nimrim are waste places from this time forth: for the grass is dried up, the vegetation wasteth away, the green is gone. 7. Therefore what has been spared, what has been gained, and their provision, they carry it over the willow-brook. 8. For the scream has gone round in the territory of Moab; the wailing of Moab resounds to Eglayim, and his wailing to Beēr-Elim. 9. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I suspend over Dimon a new calamity, over the escaped of Moab a lion, and over the remnant of the land.
XVI.—1. Send a land-ruler’s tribute of lambs from Sela desert-wards to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2. And the daughters of Moab will be like birds fluttering about, a scared nest, at the fords of Arnon. 3. Give counsel, for a decision, make thy shadow like night in the midst of noon: hide the outcasts, do not betray the wanderers. 4. Let mine outcasts tarry in thee, Moab; be a covert to it from before the spoiler. For the extortioner is at an end, desolation has disappeared, treaders down are away from the land. 5. And a throne is established by grace, and there sits thereon in truth in the tent of David one judging, and zealous for right, and practised in righteousness.
6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, the very haughty (pride), the haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath, the falsehood of his speech. 7. Therefore will Moab wail for Moab, everything will wail: for the grape-cakes of Kir-Haraseth will ye whine, utterly crushed. 8. For the fruit-fields of Heshbon have faded away: the vine of Simmah, lords of the nations its branches smote down: they reached to Ja’zer, trailed through the desert: its branches spread themselves out wide, crossed over the sea. 9. Therefore I bemoan the vine of Sibmah with the weeping of Jazer; I flood thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh, that Hêdad hath fallen upon thy fruit-harvest and upon thy vintage. 10. And joy is taken away, and the rejoicing of the garden-land; and there is no exulting, no shouting in the vineyards: the treader treads out no wine in the presses; I put an end to the Hêdad. 11. Therefore my bowels sound for Moab like a harp, and my inside for Kir-Heres. 12. And it will come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary with weeping upon the mountain height, and enters into its sanctuary to pray, it will not gain anything.
13. This is the word which Jehovah spake long ago concerning Moab. And now Jehovah speaketh thus: In three years, like the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab is disgraced, together with all the multitude of the great: a remnant is left, contemptibly small, and not great at all.
the oracle concerning damascus and israel.—chap. xvii.
1. The burden of Damascus.
Behold, Damascus must (be taken) away out of the number of the cities, and will be a heap of fallen ruins. 2. The cities of Aroer are forsaken, they are given up to flocks, they lie there without any one scaring them away. 3. And when the fortress of Ephraim is abolished, and the kingdom of Damascus; and it happens to those that are left of Aram as to the glory of the sons of Israel, saith Jehovah of hosts.