Adjacent to them worked Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, who were men of Gibeon and Mizpah. These towns were under the jurisdiction ¹  of the governor of Trans-Euphrates.

Go up on a high mountain, O herald Zion! Shout out loudly, O herald Jerusalem! ¹  Shout, don’t be afraid! Say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”

Let the desert and its cities shout out, the towns where the nomads of Kedar live! Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully; let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.

But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them save you when you are in trouble. The sad fact is that ¹  you have as many gods as you have towns, Judah.

They are saying, ¹  ‘Announce to the surrounding nations, ²  “The enemy is coming!” ³  Proclaim this message ⁴  to Jerusalem: “Those who besiege cities ⁵  are coming from a distant land. They are ready to raise the battle cry against ⁶  the towns in Judah.”’

I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, or the glad celebration of brides and grooms throughout the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For the whole land will become a desolate wasteland.”

The Lord said, ¹  “I will make Jerusalem ²  a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. ³  I will destroy the towns of Judah so that no one will be able to live in them.”

Listen! News is coming even now. ¹  The rumble of a great army is heard approaching ²  from a land in the north. ³  It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble, places where only jackals live.

The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you ¹  and carry them out!

The gates of the towns in southern Judah will be shut tight. ¹  No one will be able to go in or out of them. ²  All Judah will be carried off into exile. They will be completely carried off into exile.’” ³ 

“The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says, ‘You have seen all the disaster I brought on Jerusalem ²  and all the towns of Judah. Indeed, they now lie in ruins and are deserted. ³ 

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.’

Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their ¹  wives, by you and your wives?

The destroyer will come against every town. Not one town will escape. The towns in the valley will be destroyed. The cities on the high plain will be laid waste. ¹  I, the Lord, have spoken! ² 

Edom will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns that were around them. No one will live there. No human being will settle in it,” says the Lord.

You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” ¹ 

I will destroy Babylonia just like I did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns. No one will live there. ¹  No human being will settle in it,” says the Lord. ² 

You will say, “I will invade ¹  a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against ²  those living quietly in security – all of them living without walls and barred gates –

“You must measure ¹  from outside the wall of the town on the east 1,000 yards, ²  and on the south side 1,000 yards, and on the west side 1,000 yards, and on the north side 1,000 yards, with the town in the middle. ³  This territory must belong to them as grazing land for the towns.

The descendants of Joseph said, “The whole hill country ¹  is inadequate for us, and the Canaanites living down in the valley in Beth Shean and its surrounding towns and in the Valley of Jezreel have chariots with iron-rimmed wheels.” ²