“ I destroyed nations; their walled cities are in ruins. I turned their streets into ruins; no one passes through them. Their cities are desolate; no one lives there.

“我耶和华已经除灭列国的民；他们的城楼毁坏。我使他们的街道荒凉，以致无人经过；他们的城邑毁灭，以致无人，也无居民。

“我已经除灭列国，使他们的城楼荒废。我使他们街道荒凉，无人经过；他们的城镇毁坏，没有人，没有居民。

“我已经除灭列国，使他们的城楼荒废。我使他们街道荒凉，无人经过；他们的城镇毁坏，没有人，没有居民。

“我已消灭列国，摧毁他们的城楼，使他们的街道荒废，没有路人；他们的城邑沦为废墟，杳无人迹，没有居民。

我耶和华已经剪除列国，他们的城楼被毁；我已经使他们的街道荒凉，以致杳无人迹；他们的城市荒废，以致无人存留，无人居住。

我－耶和華已經除滅列國的民；他們的城樓毀壞。我使他們的街道荒涼，以致無人經過；他們的城邑毀滅，以致無人，也無居民。

「我已經除滅列國，使他們的城樓荒廢。我使他們街道荒涼，無人經過；他們的城鎮毀壞，沒有人，沒有居民。

「我已經除滅列國，使他們的城樓荒廢。我使他們街道荒涼，無人經過；他們的城鎮毀壞，沒有人，沒有居民。

「我已消滅列國，摧毀他們的城樓，使他們的街道荒廢，沒有路人；他們的城邑淪為廢墟，杳無人跡，沒有居民。

我耶和華已經剪除列國，他們的城樓被毀；我已經使他們的街道荒涼，以致杳無人跡；他們的城市荒廢，以致無人存留，無人居住。

『我剪滅了列國；他們的城角樓荒涼；我使他們的街道荒廢，全無經過的人；他們的城市被毁壞，沒有一人，沒有居民。

我曾翦滅列邦、使其堞樓闃寂、街衢荒涼、無人經之、其邑被毀、寂然無人、無居之者、

我耶和華滅列邦、毀城邑、使屋隅傾圯、逵衢荒寂、無人履之、無人居之、

主曰、我翦滅列邦、使其堞樓傾圮、使其街衢荒蕪、無人來往、其城邑盡毀、無人在、無人在或作以致無人無居民、

“ I have destroyed nations; their strongholds are demolished. I have left their streets deserted, with no one passing through. Their cities are laid waste; they are deserted and empty.

The Lord says to his people,“ I have destroyed other nations. I have wiped out their forts. I have left their streets deserted. No one walks along them. Their cities are destroyed. They are deserted and empty.

“ I have cut off nations; their battlements are in ruins; I have laid waste their streets so that no one walks in them; their cities have been made desolate, without a man, without an inhabitant.

“ I have wiped out many nations, devastating their fortress walls and towers. Their streets are now deserted; their cities lie in silent ruin. There are no survivors— none at all.

I have cut off nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have laid waste their streets, with no one to pass through. Their cities lie devastated, without a person, without an inhabitant.

“ I have eliminated nations; Their corner towers are deserted. I have laid waste their streets, With no one passing by; Their cities have been laid waste, Without a person, without an inhabitant.

“ I have cut off nations, Their fortresses are devastated; I have made their streets desolate, With none passing by. Their cities are destroyed; There is no one, no inhabitant.

I have cut off nations; their battlements are desolate; I have made their streets waste, so that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant.

I have cut off nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have laid waste their streets, with no one to pass through. Their cities lie devastated, without a person, without an inhabitant.

I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.

I have cut off nations. Their battlements are desolate. I have made their streets waste, so that no one passes by. Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant.

These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did.

So I, the LORD, affirm that I will send for all the peoples of the north and my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it and make them everlasting ruins. I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn.I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in these lands. I will put an end to the sound of people grinding meal. I will put an end to lamps shining in their houses.This whole area will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years.’

Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, are as good as dead. The LORD has decreed your downfall, Canaan, land of the Philistines:“ I will destroy everyone who lives there!”

These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master,‘ With my many chariots I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars and its best evergreens. I invaded its most remote regions, its thickest woods.I dug wells and drank water. With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.’Certainly you must have heard! Long ago I worked it out, in ancient times I planned it, and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins.

( 2: 2) The watchmen of Nineveh shout:“ An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!”“ Guard the rampart! Watch the road! Prepare yourselves for battle! Muster your mighty strength!”For the LORD will restore the majesty of Jacob, as well as the majesty of Israel, though their enemies have plundered them and have destroyed their fields.The shields of his warriors are dyed red; the mighty soldiers are dressed in scarlet garments. The metal fittings of the chariots shine like fire on the day of battle; the soldiers brandish their spears.

‘ Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful land a waste.”

Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. Do you really think you will be rescued?Were the nations whom my predecessors destroyed– the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar– rescued by their gods?Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

The LORD’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 troops in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses!

I made Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials drink it. I did it so Judah would become a ruin. I did it so Judah, its kings, and its officials would become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, an example used in curses. Such is already becoming the case!I made all of these other people drink it: Pharaoh, king of Egypt; his attendants, his officials, his people,the foreigners living in Egypt; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines, the people of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, the people who had been left alive from Ashdod;all the people of Edom, Moab, Ammon;all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon; all the kings of the coastlands along the sea;the people of Dedan, Tema, Buz, all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples;all the kings of Arabia who live in the desert;all the kings of Zimri; all the kings of Elam; all the kings of Media;all the kings of the north, whether near or far from one another; and all the other kingdoms which are on the face of the earth. After all of them have drunk the wine of the LORD’s wrath, the king of Babylon must drink it.

Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations,to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans.What will you do on judgment day, when destruction arrives from a distant place? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners, or to fall among those who have been killed. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish.I sent him against a godless nation, I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, to take plunder and to carry away loot, to trample them down like dirt in the streets.But he does not agree with this, his mind does not reason this way, for his goal is to destroy, and to eliminate many nations.Indeed, he says:“ Are not my officials all kings?Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Hamath like Arpad? Samaria like Damascus?I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s or Samaria’s.As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.”But when the sovereign master finishes judging Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays.For he says:“ By my strong hand I have accomplished this, by my strategy that I devised. I invaded the territory of nations, and looted their storehouses. Like a mighty conqueror, I brought down rulers.My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest, as one gathers up abandoned eggs, I gathered up the whole earth. There was no wing flapping, or open mouth chirping.”Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!For this reason the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. His majestic glory will go up in smoke.The light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One will become a flame; it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s briers and his thorns in one day.The splendor of his forest and his orchard will be completely destroyed, as when a sick man’s life ebbs away.There will be so few trees left in his forest, a child will be able to count them.At that time those left in Israel, those who remain of the family of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. Instead they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. Destruction has been decreed; just punishment is about to engulf you.The sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land.So here is what the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, says:“ My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did.For very soon my fury will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction.”The LORD who commands armies is about to beat them with a whip, similar to the way he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will use his staff against the sea, lifting it up as he did in Egypt.At that time the LORD will remove their burden from your shoulders, and their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large.They attacked Aiath, moved through Migron, depositing their supplies at Micmash.They went through the pass, spent the night at Geba. Ramah trembled, Gibeah of Saul ran away.Shout out, daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth!Madmenah flees, the residents of Gebim have hidden.This very day, standing in Nob, they shake their fist at Daughter Zion’s mountain– at the hill of Jerusalem.Look, the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power. The tallest trees will be cut down, the loftiest ones will be brought low.The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax, and mighty Lebanon will fall.

I will lay your cities waste and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas.

Here is a message about Moab: Indeed, in a night it is devastated, Ar of Moab is destroyed! Indeed, in a night it is devastated, Kir of Moab is destroyed!They went up to the temple, the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament. Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba, Moab wails. Every head is shaved bare, every beard is trimmed off.In their streets they wear sackcloth; on their roofs and in their town squares all of them wail, they fall down weeping.The people of Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz. For this reason Moab’s soldiers shout in distress; their courage wavers.My heart cries out because of Moab’s plight, and for the fugitives stretched out as far as Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah. For they weep as they make their way up the ascent of Luhith; they loudly lament their demise on the road to Horonaim.For the waters of Nimrim are gone; the grass is dried up, the vegetation has disappeared, and there are no plants.For this reason what they have made and stored up, they carry over the Stream of the Poplars.Indeed, the cries of distress echo throughout Moabite territory; their wailing can be heard in Eglaim and Beer Elim.Indeed, the waters of Dimon are full of blood! Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon. A lion will attack the Moabite fugitives and the people left in the land.

Here is a message about Egypt: Look, the Lord rides on a swift- moving cloud and approaches Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him; the Egyptians lose their courage.“ I will provoke civil strife in Egypt, brothers will fight with each other, as will neighbors, cities, and kingdoms.The Egyptians will panic, and I will confuse their strategy. They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead, from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians.I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master; a powerful king will rule over them,” says the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies.The water of the sea will be dried up, and the river will dry up and be empty.The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up; the bulrushes and reeds will decay,along with the plants by the mouth of the river. All the cultivated land near the river will turn to dust and be blown away.The fishermen will mourn and lament, all those who cast a fishhook into the river, and those who spread out a net on the water’s surface will grieve.Those who make clothes from combed flax will be embarrassed; those who weave will turn pale.Those who make cloth will be demoralized; all the hired workers will be depressed.The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice. How dare you say to Pharaoh,“ I am one of the sages, one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?”But where, oh where, are your wise men? Let them tell you, let them find out what the LORD who commands armies has planned for Egypt.The officials of Zoan are fools, the officials of Memphis are misled; the rulers of her tribes lead Egypt astray.The LORD has made them undiscerning; they lead Egypt astray in all she does, so that she is like a drunk sliding around in his own vomit.Egypt will not be able to do a thing, head or tail, shoots and stalk.At that time the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because the LORD who commands armies brandishes his fist against them.The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the LORD who commands armies is planning to do to them.At that time five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD who commands armies. One will be called the City of the Sun.At that time there will be an altar for the LORD in the middle of the land of Egypt, as well as a sacred pillar dedicated to the LORD at its border.It will become a visual reminder in the land of Egypt of the LORD who commands armies. When they cry out to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a deliverer and defender who will rescue them.The LORD will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they will acknowledge the LORD’s authority at that time. They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them.The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and then healing them. They will turn to the LORD and he will listen to their prayers and heal them.At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.At that time Israel will be the third member of the group, along with Egypt and Assyria, and will be a recipient of blessing in the earth.The LORD who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying,“ Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, Israel!”