That is why its name was called ¹  Babel ²  – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.

¹ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot ²  from a furnace, and have Moses throw it ³  into the air while Pharaoh is watching. ⁴ 

The Lord will cause your enemies who attack ¹  you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction ²  but flee from you in seven different directions.

One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier; ¹  at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away, ²  until the remaining few are as isolated ³  as a flagpole on a mountaintop or a signal flag on a hill.”

They will surrender their stronghold ¹  because of fear; ²  their officers will be afraid of the Lord’s battle flag.” ³  This is what the Lord says – the one whose fire is in Zion, whose firepot is in Jerusalem. ⁴ 

The Lord continued, ¹  “In every town in the land I will purge them like straw blown away by the wind. ²  I will destroy my people. I will kill off their children. I will do so because they did not change their behavior. ³ 

I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ¹  That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them. ² 

I will chase after them with war, ¹  starvation, and disease. I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to them. I will make them examples of those who are cursed, objects of horror, hissing scorn, and ridicule among all the nations where I exile them.

For I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that I will be with you and will rescue you. I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you. But I will not completely destroy you. I will indeed discipline you, but only in due measure. I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.” ² 

‘I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled ¹  them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.

Look, the sovereign Lord is watching ¹  the sinful nation, ²  and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will not completely destroy the family ³  of Jacob,” says the Lord.

‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful ¹  land a waste.”

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” says the Lord who rules over all. Strike the shepherd that the flock may be scattered; ¹  I will turn my hand against the insignificant ones.

I am about to discipline your children ¹  and will spread offal ²  on your faces, ³  the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.

And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹  him.Now on that day a great ²  persecution began ³  against the church in Jerusalem, ⁴  and all ⁵  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ⁶  of Judea and Samaria.

“The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror ¹  to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Then Saul said, “Scatter out among the army and say to them, ‘Each of you bring to me your ox and sheep and slaughter them in this spot and eat. But don’t sin against the Lord by eating the blood.” So that night each one brought his ox and slaughtered it there. ¹ 

They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. ¹  These are things they ²  adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, ³  from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people ⁴  will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground. ⁵ 

In a time of prosperity for the most productive areas of the province he will come and accomplish what neither his fathers nor their fathers accomplished. He will distribute loot, spoils, and property to his followers, and he will devise plans against fortified cities, but not for long. ¹ 

Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was over the waters of the river as he raised both his right and left hands to the sky ¹  and made an oath by the one who lives forever: “It is for a time, times, and half a time. Then, when the power of the one who shatters ²  the holy people has been exhausted, all these things will be finished.”