The Daily Audio Bible

God Will Destroy Moab

15 The special word against Moab: Ar of Moab is destroyed and laid waste in a night. And in a night Kir of Moab is destroyed and laid waste. ² They have gone up to the house of worship and to Dibon. They have gone to the high places to cry. Moab cries over Nebo and Medeba. The hair has been cut from everyone’s head and face. ³ In their streets they have dressed themselves with cloth made from hair. On the tops of their houses and in their open spaces everyone is crying with many tears. ⁴ Heshbon and Elealeh cry out also. Their voice is heard as far as Jahaz. So the soldiers of Moab cry out. Moab’s soul shakes within him. ⁵ My heart cries out for Moab. His men have run away as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah. For they go up the hill of Luhith crying. On the road to Horonaim they cry in sorrow over their being destroyed. ⁶ For the waters of Nimrim have been laid waste. The grass is dried up. The new grass died out. There is no green thing. ⁷ So the many things they have gathered and stored up they carry away over the river of Arabim. ⁸ The cry of sorrow has gone around the land of Moab. Its noise is heard as far as Eglaim and Beer-elim. ⁹ The waters of Dimon are full of blood. Yet I will bring more troubles to Dimon. I will bring a lion upon those of Moab who have run away, and upon the people of the land who are still alive.

Moab Is without Hope

16 Send lambs as taxes to the ruler of the land, from Sela by the way of the desert to the mountain of the people of Zion. ² Then, like birds driven from their nest, the people of Moab will be where the Arnon River can be crossed. ³ “Give us words of wisdom. Do what is right for us. Make your shadow like night at noonday. Hide those who have been sent away. Do not go against those who are running for their lives. ⁴ Let those of Moab who have been sent away stay with you. Hide them from the one who destroys.” For the one who uses sinful power has come to an end, and trouble has stopped. Those who make it hard for the people have gone from the land. ⁵ A throne will be set up in loving-kindness. A faithful judge will sit on it from the family of David. He will be fair as he judges, and will be quick to do what is right and good.

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab, how very proud he is. We have heard of how proud he is of himself and of his anger. His proud words are false. ⁷ So Moab will cry out. Everyone of Moab will cry out. You will cry for the dried-grape cakes of Kir-hareseth, as if you were in the worst trouble. ⁸ The fields of Heshbon and the vines of Sibmah have dried up. The lords of the nations have crushed under foot its best vines, which went as far as Jazer and the desert. They spread themselves out and passed over the sea. ⁹ So I will cry with much sorrow for Jazer and for the vines of Sibmah. I will make you wet with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh, because there is nothing to gather from your summer fruits. ¹⁰ Happiness and joy are taken away from the field that gives much fruit. No songs are sung in the grape-fields. No one crushes grapes to make wine, for I have stopped the cry of joy. ¹¹ So my heart cries with sorrow for Moab like a harp. Inside myself I cry for Kir-hareseth. ¹² When Moab goes to his high place, he will only become tired. When he goes to his holy place to pray, it will do him no good.

¹³ This is the word which the Lord spoke before about Moab. ¹⁴ But now the Lord says, “In three years, as a servant would count them, the shining-greatness of Moab and all his many people will be hated. And those left alive will be very few and weak.”

God Will Destroy Damascus

17 The special word about Damascus: “See, Damascus will no longer be a city. It will be destroyed and laid waste. ² The cities of Aroer are left empty. They will be for the flocks to lie down in, and no one will make them afraid. ³ The strong city will be gone from Ephraim. Damascus will no longer rule. And those of Syria who are left alive will be like the shining-greatness of the sons of Israel,” says the Lord of All.

⁴ In that day Jacob will lose his shining-greatness. And he will lose the fat of his flesh. ⁵ It will be like one who gathers the standing grain, taking the ears of grain with his arm or like one who gathers the ears of grain in the valley of Rephaim. ⁶ Yet some good will be left in it, as when an olive tree is shaken. There will still be two or three olives on the highest branch, and four or five on the branches of a tree that gives much fruit, says the Lord God of Israel.

⁷ In that day man will turn to his Maker. His eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. ⁸ He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands. He will not look to what his fingers have made, or to the false goddess Asherah and the altars of special perfume.

⁹ In that day their strong cities will be like places left empty among the trees, or like high branches which they left behind because of the sons of Israel. The land will be laid waste. ¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God Who saves you. You have not remembered the rock where you are safe. So you plant beautiful plants, and put them with the vine-cuttings of a strange god. ¹¹ In the day that you plant it you fence it in, and in the morning your seed is growing. But its fruit will waste away in a day of sickness and pain which cannot be healed.

Other Nations Are Like Grain Worth Nothing

¹² Listen to the cry of sorrow of many people. They sound like the noise of the seas and the noise of nations! They sound like the rushing of powerful waters. ¹³ The nations move on like the noise of many waters. But God will speak sharp words to them and they will run far away. They will be blown away like the part of grain that is of no worth by the wind in the mountains. They will be like dust blown around in a storm. ¹⁴ At evening time there is much fear! Before morning, they are gone. This will be what will come to those who take what belongs to us. It will be what happens to those who rob us.

Word about Cush

18 Trouble will come to the land on the other side of the rivers of Cush where the sound of wings is heard. ² From that land men are sent by the sea in boats made from tall river-grass. Go, you fast men, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people who fill others with fear both near and far. Go to the powerful nation that rules over those who hate it, whose land is divided by rivers. ³ All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, as soon as a flag is raised on the mountain, you will see it. As soon as the horn is sounded, you will hear it. ⁴ For the Lord has said to me, “I will be quiet and watch from the place where I live, like shining heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of fog in the heat of gathering time.” ⁵ For before the gathering time, as soon as the bud blossoms and the grape is ready to eat, He will cut off the new branches with knives and will cut away the spreading branches. ⁶ They will be left for the birds of the mountains and for the wild animals of the earth. The birds will spend the summer eating them. And all the wild animals of the earth will eat them during the winter. ⁷ At that time tall people with smooth skin will bring gifts to the Lord of All. These people make others afraid both near and far. They are a strong and powerful nation who rule over others, whose land is divided by rivers. And they will go to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord of All.

1 This letter is from Paul. I am a missionary sent by Jesus Christ and God the Father Who raised Jesus from the dead. I am not sent by men or by any one man. ² All the Christians join me in writing to you who are in the churches in the country of Galatia. ³ May you have loving-favor and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ He gave Him-self to die for our sins. He did this so we could be saved from this sinful world. This is what God wanted Him to do. ⁵ May He have all the honor forever. Let it be so.

Men Must Not Change the Good News

⁶ I am surprised you are leaving Christ so soon. You were chosen through His loving-favor. But now you are turning and listening to another kind of good news. ⁷ No! There is not another kind of good news. There are some who would like to lead you in the wrong way. They want to change the Good News about Christ. ⁸ Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach another kind of good news to you that is not the one we preached, let him be cursed. ⁹ As we said before, I will say it again. If any man is preaching another good news to you which is not the one you have received, let him be cursed.

This Good News Is from God

¹⁰ Do you think I am trying to get the favor of men, or of God? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant owned by Christ.

¹¹ Christian brothers, I want you to know the Good News I preached to you was not made by man. ¹² I did not receive it from man. No one taught it to me. I received it from Jesus Christ as He showed it to me.

¹³ You have heard of my old life when I followed the Jewish religion. I made it as hard as I could for the Christians and did everything I could to destroy the Christian church. ¹⁴ I had learned more about the Jewish religion than many of the Jews my age. I had a much stronger desire than they to follow the ways of our early fathers. ¹⁵ But God chose me before I was born. By His loving-favor He called me to work for Him. ¹⁶ His Son was to be seen in me. He did this so I could preach about Christ to the people who are not Jews. When this happened, I did not talk to men. ¹⁷ I did not even go to Jerusalem to talk to those who were missionaries before me. Instead, I went to the country of Arabia. Later I returned to the city of Damascus.

¹⁸ Three years later I went to Jerusalem to meet Peter. I stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ I did not see any of the other missionaries except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ I am writing the truth. God knows I am not lying.

²¹ I went from Jerusalem to the countries of Syria and Cilicia. ²² None of the Christians in the churches in the country of Judea had ever seen me. ²³ The only thing they heard was, “The one who tried to destroy the Christian church is now preaching the Good News!” ²⁴ And they gave thanks to God because of me.

Prayer for God to Punish the Sinful

58 Do you speak what is right and good, O you powerful ones? Are you always right in how you judge, O sons of men? ² No, in your heart you do what is wrong. You use your hands to hurt and destroy in the land. ³ The sinful go wrong as soon as they are born. Those who speak lies go the wrong way from birth. ⁴ Their poison is like the poison of a snake. They are like a cobra that cannot or will not listen. ⁵ It does not hear the voice of the man who has power over it, even if the man is very good in his work.

⁶ O God, break the teeth in their mouth. Break out the teeth of the young lions, O Lord. ⁷ Let them flow away like water that pours. When he uses his arrows, let them have no heads. ⁸ Let them be like a snail that melts away as it goes. Like a baby born dead, may they never see the sun. ⁹ Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns, He will blow them away with a storm, both the green and the burning ones.

¹⁰ The one who is right and good will be full of joy when he sees the sinful punished. He will wash his feet in their blood. ¹¹ And men will say, “For sure there is pay for those who are right and good. For sure there is a God Who says who is guilty or not on the earth.”

¹² Open your heart to teaching, and your ears to words of much learning.