The dogs have big appetites; they are never full. ¹  They are shepherds who have no understanding; they all go their own way, each one looking for monetary gain. ² 

Come through! Come through the gates! Prepare the way for the people! Build it! Build the roadway! Remove the stones! Lift a signal flag for the nations!

They say to a wooden idol, ¹  ‘You are my father.’ They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ ²  Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ³  Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

They will say, ¹  ‘Prepare to do battle ²  against it! Come on! Let’s attack it at noon!’ But later they will say, ³  ‘Oh, oh! Too bad! ⁴  The day is almost over and the shadows of evening are getting long.

They have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ¹  I tried over and over again ²  to instruct them, but they did not listen and respond to correction. ³ 

What do I see?” ¹  says the Lord. ²  “The soldiers ³  are terrified. They are retreating. They have been defeated. They are overcome with terror; ⁴  they desert quickly without looking back.

Fathers will hear the hoofbeats of the enemies’ horses, the clatter of their chariots and the rumbling of their wheels. They will not turn back to save their children because they will be paralyzed with fear. ¹ 

Oh, how shattered Moab will be! Oh, how her people will wail! Oh, how she will turn away ¹  in shame! Moab will become an object of ridicule, a terrifying sight to all the nations that surround her.”

Turn and flee! Take up refuge in remote places, ¹  you people who live in Dedan. ²  For I will bring disaster on the descendants of Esau. I have decided it is time for me to punish them. ³ 

Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon. Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time. ¹  Let all the foreigners return to their own people. Let them hurry back to their own lands to escape destruction by that enemy army. ² 

When they ¹  moved, they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved; in the direction the head would turn they would follow ²  without turning as they moved,

It sprouted and became a vine, spreading low to the ground; ¹  its branches turning toward him, ²  its roots were under itself. ³  So it became a vine; it produced shoots and sent out branches.

It will never again be Israel’s source of confidence, but a reminder of how they sinned by turning to Egypt for help. ¹  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.’”

The Lord has removed the judgment against you; ¹  he has turned back your enemy. Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst! You no longer need to fear disaster.

You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears ¹  as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you.

Now, if you will show faithful love to my master, tell me. But if not, tell me as well, so that I may go on my way.” ¹ 

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 Moses extended his hand toward the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state ¹  when the sun began to rise. ²  Now the Egyptians were fleeing ³  before it, but the Lord overthrew ⁴  the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.

Then the priest will command that the house be cleared ¹  before the priest enters to examine the infection ²  so that everything in the house ³  does not become unclean, ⁴  and afterward ⁵  the priest will enter to examine the house.

Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, “Have no respect ¹  for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!”