2:1 This is what the LORD says:
“For three offenses of Moab, and for four,
I will not ①revoke its punishment,
Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.
▷ ①Lit cause it to turn back, and so throughout the ch
2:2 So I will send fire upon Moab
And it will consume the citadels of Kerioth;
And Moab will die amid the panic of battle,
Amid war cries and the sound of a trumpet.
2:3 I will also eliminate the ①judge from her midst
And slay all her leaders with him,” says the LORD.
▷ ①Or executive officer
2:4 This is what the LORD says:
“For three offenses of Judah, and for four,
I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they rejected the Law of the LORD
And have not kept His statutes;
Their ①lies also have led them astray,
Those which their fathers followed.
▷ ①Or false gods
2:5 So I will send fire upon Judah,
And it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”
2:6 This is what the LORD says:
“For three offenses of Israel, and for four,
I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they sell the righteous for ①money,
And the needy for a pair of sandals.
▷ ①Lit silver
2:7 These who ①trample the head of the helpless to the dust of the earth
Also divert the way of the humble;
And a man and his father ②resort to the same ③girl
So as to profane My holy name.
▷ ①Or pant for the dust...on the head of the helpless ②Lit go ③Possibly a prostitute, or a temple prostitute
2:8 And on garments seized as pledges they stretch out beside every altar,
And in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.
2:9 “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,
①Though his height was like the height of cedars
And he was as strong as the oaks;
I also destroyed his fruit above and his roots below.
▷ ①Lit Whose height
2:10 And it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,
And led you in the wilderness for forty years
So that you might take possession of the land of the Amorite.
2:11 Then I raised up some of your sons to be prophets,
And some of your young men to be Nazirites.
Is this not so, you sons of Israel?” declares the LORD.
2:12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine,
And you commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’
2:13 Behold, I am making a rut in the ground beneath you,
Just as a wagon makes a rut when filled with sheaves.
2:14 Refuge will be lost from the swift,
And the strong will not strengthen his power,
Nor the warrior save his ①life.
▷ ①Lit soul
2:15 The one who grasps the bow will not stand his ground,
The swift of foot will not escape,
Nor will the one who rides the horse save his ①life.
▷ ①Lit soul
2:16 Even the ①bravest among the warriors will flee naked on that day,” declares the LORD.
▷ ①Lit strong of his heart