When your people ¹  come to their senses ²  in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, ‘We have sinned and gone astray ³ , we have done evil!’

¹ These are the people ²  of the province who were going up, ³  from the captives of the exile whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had forced into exile in Babylon. They returned to Jerusalem ⁴  and Judah, each to his own city.

Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, sing a song! Get up, Barak! Capture your prisoners of war, ¹  son of Abinoam!

Now listen to me! Send back those you have seized from your brothers, for the Lord is very angry at you!” ¹ 

so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, both young and old. They will be in undergarments and barefoot, with the buttocks exposed; the Egyptians will be publicly humiliated. ¹ 

Say, ‘I am an object lesson for you. Just as I have done, it will be done to them; they will go into exile and captivity.’

You ascend on high, ¹  you have taken many captives. ²  You receive tribute ³  from ⁴  men, including even sinful rebels. Indeed the Lord God lives there! ⁵ 

Then Ishmael took captive all the people who were still left alive in Mizpah. This included the royal princesses ¹  and all the rest of the people in Mizpah that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, had put under the authority of Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took all these people captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

Therefore they will now be the first to go into exile, ¹  and the religious banquets ²  where they sprawl on couches ³  will end.

These are the people ¹  of the province who returned ²  from the captivity of the exiles, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had forced into exile. ³  They returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, each to his own city.

Woe to you, Moab. You are ruined, O people of Chemosh! ¹  He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters the prisoners of King Sihon of the Amorites.

They brought the captives and the spoils and the plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the Israelite community, to the camp on the plains ¹  of Moab, along the Jordan River ²  across from Jericho. ³ 

I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh – the blood of the slaughtered and captured, the chief ¹  of the enemy’s leaders!’”

O Lord, restore our well-being, just as the streams in the arid south are replenished. ¹ 

If they ask you, ‘Where should we go?’ tell them the Lord says this: “Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease. Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war. Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation. Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.” ¹ 

All those people that Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned and went over to Johanan son of Kareah.

and they will come to their senses and escape the devil’s trap where they are held captive ¹  to do his will. ² 

When your people ¹  come to their senses ²  in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, ‘We have sinned and gone astray; ³  we have done evil.’

“The time will come when your people ¹  will sin against you (for there is no one who is sinless!) and you will be angry at them and deliver them over to their enemies, who will take them as prisoners to their land, whether far away or close by.

“What have you done?” Laban demanded of Jacob. “You’ve deceived me ¹  and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war! ²