The Berean Pursuit
This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza. This is what the LORD says:
"See how the waters are rising from the north
and becoming an overflowing torrent.
They will overflow the land and its fullness,
the cities and their inhabitants.
The people will cry out,
and all who dwell in the land will wail
at the sound of the galloping hooves of stallions,
the rumbling of chariots,
and the clatter of their wheels.
The fathers will not turn back for their sons;
their hands will hang limp.
For the day has come
to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
every remaining ally.
Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines,
the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.
The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning;
Ashkelon will be silenced.
O remnant of their valley,
how long will you gash yourself?
'Alas, O sword of the LORD,
how long until you rest?
Return to your sheath;
cease and be still!'
How can it rest
when the LORD has commanded it?
He has appointed it against Ashkelon
and the shore of its coastland."
Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:
"Woe to Nebo,
for it will be devastated.
Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced;
the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.
There is no longer praise for Moab;
in Heshbon they devise evil against her:
'Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.'
You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced;
the sword will pursue you.
A voice cries out from Horonaim:
'Devastation and great destruction!'
Moab will be shattered;
her little ones will cry out.
For on the ascent to Luhith
they weep bitterly as they go,
and on the descent to Horonaim
cries of distress resound
over the destruction:
'Flee! Run for your lives!
Become like a juniper in the desert.'
Because you trust in your works and treasures,
you too will be captured,
and Chemosh will go into exile
with his priests and officials.
The destroyer will move against every city,
and not one town will escape.
The valley will also be ruined,
and the high plain will be destroyed,
as the LORD has said.
Put salt on Moab,
for she will be laid waste;
her cities will become desolate,
with no one to dwell in them.
Cursed is the one who is remiss
in doing the work of the LORD,
and cursed is he who withholds
his sword from bloodshed.
Moab has been at ease from youth,
settled like wine on its dregs;
he has not been poured from vessel to vessel
or gone into exile.
So his flavor has remained the same,
and his aroma is unchanged.
Therefore behold, the days are coming,
declares the LORD,
when I will send to him wanderers,
who will pour him out.
They will empty his vessels
and shatter his jars.
Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,
just as the house of Israel was ashamed
when they trusted in Bethel.
How can you say, 'We are warriors,
mighty men ready for battle'?
Moab has been destroyed
and its towns have been invaded;
the best of its young men
have gone down in the slaughter,
declares the King,
whose name is the LORD of Hosts.
Moab's calamity is at hand,
and his affliction is rushing swiftly.
Mourn for him, all you who surround him,
everyone who knows his name;
tell how the mighty scepter is shattered-
the glorious staff!
Come down from your glory; sit on parched ground,
O daughter dwelling in Dibon,
for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;
he has destroyed your fortresses.
Stand by the road and watch,
O dweller of Aroer!
Ask the man fleeing or the woman escaping,
'What has happened?'
Moab is put to shame, for it has been shattered.
Wail and cry out!
Declare by the Arnon
that Moab is destroyed.
Judgment has come upon the high plain-
upon Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,
upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,
upon Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,
upon Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the towns of Moab,
those far and near.
The horn of Moab has been cut off,
and his arm is broken,"
declares the LORD.
"Make him drunk,
because he has magnified himself against the LORD;
so Moab will wallow in his own vomit,
and he will also become a laughingstock.
Was not Israel your object of ridicule?
Was he ever found among thieves?
For whenever you speak of him
you shake your head.
Abandon the towns and settle among the rocks,
O dwellers of Moab!
Be like a dove
that nests at the mouth of a cave.
We have heard of Moab's pomposity,
his exceeding pride and conceit,
his proud arrogance and haughtiness of heart.
I know his insolence,"
declares the LORD,
"but it is futile.
His boasting is as empty as his deeds.
Therefore I will wail for Moab;
I will cry out for all of Moab;
I will moan for the men of Kir-heres.
I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah,
more than I weep for Jazer.
Your tendrils have extended to the sea;
they reach even to Jazer.
The destroyer has descended
on your summer fruit and grape harvest.
Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard
and from the fields of Moab.
I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses;
no one treads them with shouts of joy;
their shouts are not for joy.
There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh;
they raise their voices to Jahaz,
from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah;
for even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.
In Moab, declares the LORD,
I will bring an end
to those who make offerings on the high places
and burn incense to their gods.
Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab;
it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres,
because the wealth they acquired has perished.
For every head is shaved
and every beard is clipped;
on every hand is a gash,
and around every waist is sackcloth.
On all the rooftops of Moab
and in the public squares,
everyone is mourning;
for I have shattered Moab like an unwanted jar,"
declares the LORD.
"How shattered it is! How they wail!
How Moab has turned his back in shame!
Moab has become an object of ridicule and horror
to all those around him."
For this is what the LORD says:
"Behold, an eagle swoops down
and spreads his wings against Moab.
Kirioth has been taken,
and the strongholds seized.
In that day the heart of Moab's warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
Moab will be destroyed as a nation
because he vaunted himself against the LORD.
Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of Moab,"
declares the LORD.
"Whoever flees the panic
will fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs from the pit
will be caught in the snare.
For I will bring upon Moab
the year of their punishment,"
declares the LORD.
"Those who flee will stand helpless in Heshbon's shadow,
because fire has gone forth from Heshbon
and a flame from within Sihon.
It devours the foreheads of Moab
and the skulls of the sons of tumult.
Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished;
for your sons have been taken into exile
and your daughters have gone into captivity.
Yet in the latter days I will restore Moab from captivity,"
declares the LORD.
Here ends the judgment on Moab.
Concerning the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says:
"Has Israel no sons?
Is he without heir?
Why then has Milcom taken possession of Gad?
Why have his people settled in their cities?
Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
declares the LORD,
when I will sound the battle cry
against Rabbah of the Ammonites.
It will become a heap of ruins,
and its villages will be burned.
Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors,
says the LORD.
Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed;
cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth and mourn;
run back and forth within your walls,
for Milcom will go into exile
together with his priests and officials.
Why do you boast of your valleys-
your valleys so fruitful,
O faithless daughter?
You trust in your riches and say,
'Who can come against me?'
Behold, I am about to bring terror upon you,
declares the Lord GOD of Hosts,
from all those around you.
You will each be driven headlong,
with no one to regather the fugitives.
Yet afterward I will restore the Ammonites from captivity,"
declares the LORD.
Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says:
"Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom decayed?
Turn and run!
Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan,
for I will bring disaster on Esau
at the time I punish him.
If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave some gleanings?
Were thieves to come in the night,
would they not steal only what they wanted?
But I will strip Esau bare;
I will uncover his hiding places,
and he will be unable to conceal himself.
His descendants will be destroyed
along with his relatives and neighbors,
and he will be no more.
Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives.
Let your widows trust in Me."
For this is what the LORD says: "If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must drink it too. For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever."
I have heard a message from the LORD;
an envoy has been sent to the nations:
"Assemble yourselves to march against her!
Rise up for battle!"
"For behold, I will make you small among nations,
despised among men.
The terror you cause
and the pride of your heart
have deceived you,
O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks,
O occupiers of the mountain summit.
Though you elevate your nest like the eagle,
even from there I will bring you down,"
declares the LORD.
"Edom will become an object of horror.
All who pass by will be appalled
and will scoff at all her wounds.
As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown
along with their neighbors,"
says the LORD,
"no one will dwell there;
no man will abide there.
Behold, one will come up like a lion
from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture.
For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land.
Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?
For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me?
What shepherd can stand against Me?"
Therefore hear the plans
that the LORD has drawn up against Edom
and the strategies He has devised
against the people of Teman:
Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away;
certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.
At the sound of their fall the earth will quake;
their cry will resound to the Red Sea.
Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down,
spreading its wings over Bozrah.
In that day the hearts of Edom's mighty men
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
Concerning Damascus:
"Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,
for they have heard a bad report;
they are agitated like the sea;
their anxiety cannot be calmed.
Damascus has become feeble;
she has turned to flee.
Panic has gripped her;
anguish and pain have seized her
like a woman in labor.
How is the city of praise not forsaken,
the town that brings Me joy?
For her young men will fall in the streets,
and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,"
declares the LORD of Hosts.
"I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;
it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad."
Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says:
"Rise up, advance against Kedar,
and destroy the people of the east!
They will take their tents and flocks,
their tent curtains and all their goods.
They will take their camels for themselves.
They will shout to them: 'Terror is on every side!'
Run! Escape quickly!
Lie low, O residents of Hazor,"
declares the LORD,
"for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
has drawn up a plan against you;
he has devised a strategy against you.
Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,
one that dwells securely,"
declares the LORD.
"They have no gates or bars;
they live alone.
Their camels will become plunder,
and their large herds will be spoil.
I will scatter to the wind in every direction
those who shave their temples;
I will bring calamity on them
from all sides,"
declares the LORD.
"Hazor will become a haunt for jackals,
a desolation forever.
No one will dwell there;
no man will abide there."
This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
"Behold, I will shatter Elam's bow,
the mainstay of their might.
I will bring the four winds against Elam
from the four corners of the heavens,
and I will scatter them
to all these winds.
There will not be a nation
to which Elam's exiles will not go.
So I will shatter Elam before their foes,
before those who seek their lives.
I will bring disaster upon them,
even My fierce anger,"
declares the LORD.
"I will send out the sword after them
until I finish them off.
I will set My throne in Elam,
and destroy its king and officials,"
declares the LORD.
"Yet in the last days,
I will restore Elam from captivity,"
declares the LORD.
For the choirmaster. To the tune of "The Lilies of the Covenant." A Psalm of Asaph.
Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel,
who leads Joseph like a flock;
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Rally Your mighty power
and come to save us.
Restore us, O God,
and cause Your face to shine upon us,
that we may be saved.
O LORD God of Hosts,
how long will Your anger smolder
against the prayers of Your people?
You fed them with the bread of tears
and made them drink the full measure of their tears.
You make us contend with our neighbors;
our enemies mock us.
Restore us, O God of Hosts,
and cause Your face to shine upon us,
that we may be saved.
You uprooted a vine from Egypt;
You drove out the nations and transplanted it.
You cleared the ground for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered by its shade,
and the mighty cedars with its branches.
It sent out its branches to the Sea,
and its shoots toward the River.
Why have You broken down its walls,
so that all who pass by pick its fruit?
The boar from the forest ravages it,
and the creatures of the field feed upon it.
Return, O God of Hosts, we pray!
Look down from heaven and see!
Attend to this vine-
the root Your right hand has planted,
the son You have raised up for Yourself.
Your vine has been cut down and burned;
they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
Let Your hand be upon the man at Your right hand,
on the son of man You have raised up for Yourself.
Then we will not turn away from You;
revive us, and we will call on Your name.
Restore us, O LORD God of Hosts;
cause Your face to shine upon us,
that we may be saved.