So my anger and my wrath were poured out and burned like a fire through the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. That is why they have become the desolate ruins that they are today.’

Cries of anguish raised from Heshbon and Elealeh will be sounded as far as Jahaz. ¹  They will be sounded from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah. For even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up.

After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. ¹  It will be totally desolate. All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ² 

מ (Mem) He sent down fire ¹  into my bones, and it overcame ²  them. He spread out a trapper’s net ³  for my feet; he made me turn back. He has made me desolate; I am faint all day long.

ע (Ayin) I weep because of these things; my eyes ¹  flow with tears. ²  For there is no one in sight who can comfort me ³  or encourage me. ⁴  My children ⁵  are desolated ⁶  because an enemy has prevailed.

So this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom, and I will kill the people and animals within her, ¹  and I will make her desolate; from Teman to Dedan they will die ²  by the sword.

“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: When I make you desolate like the uninhabited cities, when I bring up the deep over you and the surging ¹  waters overwhelm you,

“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his house become deserted, ¹  and let there be no one to live in it,’ ²  and ‘Let another take his position of responsibility.’ ³ 

All this will happen because the Lord said, ¹  “The whole land will be desolate; however, I will not completely destroy it.

Why should we die before your very eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become ¹  Pharaoh’s slaves. ²  Give us seed that we may live ³  and not die. Then the land will not become desolate.” ⁴ 

For the waters of Nimrim are gone; ¹  the grass is dried up, the vegetation has disappeared, and there are no plants.

You will no longer be called, “Abandoned,” and your land will no longer be called “Desolate.” Indeed, ¹  you will be called “My Delight is in Her,” ²  and your land “Married.” ³  For the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married to him. ⁴ 

So ¹  take warning, Jerusalem, or I will abandon you in disgust ²  and make you desolate, a place where no one can live.”

Set up a gravestone for Moab, for it will certainly be laid in ruins! ¹  Its cities will be laid waste and become uninhabited.”

He broke down ¹  their strongholds ²  and devastated their cities. The land and everything in it was frightened at the sound of his roaring.

Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.’ ¹ 

He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. ¹  But in the middle of that week he will bring sacrifices and offerings to a halt. On the wing ²  of abominations will come ³  one who destroys, until the decreed end is poured out on the one who destroys.”

When it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place ¹  and it is already very late.

The land will be abandoned by them ¹  in order that it may make up for ²  its Sabbaths while it is made desolate ³  without them, ⁴  and they will make up for their iniquity because ⁵  they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred ⁶  my statutes.

Turn toward me and have mercy on me, for I am alone ¹  and oppressed!