“Has Israel no sons?
    Has he no heir?
Why then has Milcom^[a] dispossessed Gad,
    and his people settled in its cities?
² Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
    declares the Lord,
when I will cause the battle cry to be heard
    against Rabbah of the Ammonites;
it shall become a desolate mound,
    and its villages shall be burned with fire;
then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,
    says the Lord.

³ “Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
    Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!
Put on sackcloth,
    lament, and run to and fro among the hedges!
For Milcom shall go into exile,
    with his priests and his officials.
⁴ Why do you boast of your valleys,^[b]
    O faithless daughter,
who trusted in her treasures, saying,
    ‘Who will come against me?’
⁵ Behold, I will bring terror upon you,
    declares the Lord God of hosts,
    from all who are around you,
and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him,
    with none to gather the fugitives.

“Is wisdom no more in Teman?
    Has counsel perished from the prudent?
    Has their wisdom vanished?
⁸ Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths,
    O inhabitants of Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
    the time when I punish him.
⁹ If grape gatherers came to you,
    would they not leave gleanings?
If thieves came by night,
    would they not destroy only enough for themselves?
¹⁰ But I have stripped Esau bare;
    I have uncovered his hiding places,
    and he is not able to conceal himself.
His children are destroyed, and his brothers,
    and his neighbors; and he is no more.
¹¹ Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive;
    and let your widows trust in me.”

¹⁴ I have heard a message from the Lord,
    and an envoy has been sent among the nations:
“Gather yourselves together and come against her,
    and rise up for battle!
¹⁵ For behold, I will make you small among the nations,
    despised among mankind.
¹⁶ The horror you inspire has deceived you,
    and the pride of your heart,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,^[c]
    who hold the height of the hill.
Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's,
    I will bring you down from there,
declares the Lord.

“Hamath and Arpad are confounded,
    for they have heard bad news;
they melt in fear,
    they are troubled like the sea that cannot be quiet.
²⁴ Damascus has become feeble, she turned to flee,
    and panic seized her;
anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,
    as of a woman in labor.
²⁵ How is the famous city not forsaken,
    the city of my joy?
²⁶ Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,
    and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,
declares the Lord of hosts.
²⁷ And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
    and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.”

Thus says the Lord:
“Rise up, advance against Kedar!
    Destroy the people of the east!
²⁹ Their tents and their flocks shall be taken,
    their curtains and all their goods;
their camels shall be led away from them,
    and men shall cry to them: ‘Terror on every side!’
³⁰ Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths,
    O inhabitants of Hazor!
declares the Lord.
For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
    has made a plan against you
    and formed a purpose against you.

³¹ “Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,
    that dwells securely,
declares the Lord,
that has no gates or bars,
    that dwells alone.
³² Their camels shall become plunder,
    their herds of livestock a spoil.
I will scatter to every wind
    those who cut the corners of their hair,
and I will bring their calamity
    from every side of them,
declares the Lord.
³³ Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals,
    an everlasting waste;
no man shall dwell there;
    no man shall sojourn in her.”