At the fords of the Arnon ¹  the Moabite women are like a bird that flies about when forced from its nest. ² 

“At that time ¹  Jacob’s splendor will be greatly diminished, ²  and he will become skin and bones. ³ 

I will fasten him like a peg into a solid place; ¹  he will bring honor and respect to his father’s family. ² 

But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame, and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.

This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. ¹  Then the desert will become an orchard and the orchard will be considered a forest. ² 

Fairness will produce peace ¹  and result in lasting security. ² 

He is your constant source of stability; ¹  he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; ²  he gives all this to those who fear him. ³ 

The dry soil will become a pool of water, the parched ground springs of water. Where jackals once lived and sprawled out, grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.

Every valley must be elevated, and every mountain and hill leveled. The rough terrain will become a level plain, the rugged landscape a wide valley.

Each one says, ¹  ‘Come on, I’ll get some wine! Let’s guzzle some beer! Tomorrow will be just like today! We’ll have everything we want!’ ² 

Sharon ¹  will become a pasture for sheep, and the Valley of Achor ²  a place where cattle graze; ³  they will belong to my people, who seek me. ⁴ 

Before they even call out, ¹  I will respond; while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land ¹  through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. ² 

But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent ¹  and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands ²  and to their own country.

The following events also occurred ¹  while the Babylonian forces ²  had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem ³  because the army of Pharaoh was coming.

“Moab has vaunted itself against me. So make him drunk with the wine of my wrath ¹  until he splashes ²  around in his own vomit, until others treat him as a laughingstock.

“Yet in days to come I will reverse Elam’s ill fortune.” ¹  says the Lord. ² 

My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

All the people of the land will bury them, and it will be a memorial ¹  for them on the day I magnify myself, declares the sovereign Lord.

In whatever tribe the foreigner resides, there you will give him his inheritance,” declares the sovereign Lord.