Then I will surround my temple ¹  to protect it like a guard ²  from anyone crossing back and forth; so no one will cross over against them anymore as an oppressor, for now I myself have seen it.

Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns; thickets and weeds will grow ¹  in her fortified cities. Jackals will settle there; ostriches will live there. ² 

Their land was overrun by frogs, which even got into the rooms of their kings.

Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; ¹  you have covered us with darkness. ² 

With bow and arrow ¹  men will hunt ²  there, for the whole land will be covered ³  with thorns and briers.

Therefore,” says the sovereign Lord, “an enemy will encircle the land. ¹  He will take away your power; ²  your fortresses will be looted.”

Therefore, as surely as I live,” says the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel, “be certain that Moab will become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah. They will be overrun by weeds, ¹  filled with salt pits, ²  and permanently desolate. Those of my people who are left ³  will plunder their belongings; ⁴  those who are left in Judah ⁵  will take possession of their land.”

He, ¹  the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You will not be allowed to destroy them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you.

At that time ¹  every place where there had been a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels will be overrun ²  with thorns and briers.

“I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals ¹  and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” ²  says the Lord who commands armies.

Your treaty with death will be dissolved; ¹  your agreement ²  with Sheol will not last. ³  When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, ⁴  you will be overrun by it. ⁵ 

Look! ¹  Even if ²  they flee from the destruction, Egypt will take hold ³  of them, and Memphis will bury them. The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure ⁴  – thorn bushes will occupy their homes. ⁵ 

The people of the Negev ¹  will take possession ²  of Esau’s mountain, and the people of the Shephelah ³  will take possession ⁴  of the land of ⁵  the Philistines. They will also take possession of the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, and the people of Benjamin will take possession ⁶  of Gilead. ⁷ 

They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as ¹  neither ²  your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been ³  in the land until this day!’” Then Moses ⁴  turned and went out from Pharaoh.

So take note, ¹  I am about to make you slaves of ²  the tribes ³  of the east. They will make camps among you and pitch their tents among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.