1 Yahweh says this, “Because Moab has sinned, not once but three times and even more, I will not relent. Because they burned to a cinder the bones of the king of Edom,
2 I will send fire on Moab and it shall be destroyed in the midst of the tumult, with war cries and the blast of the trumpet.
3 I will do away with their ruler and all the princes with him,” says Yah weh.
4 Yahweh says this, “Because Judah has sinned, not once but three times and even more, I will not relent. Because they rejected the law of Yahweh and did not keep his statutes, but have been led astray by the falsehood after which their fathers walked,
5 I will send fire upon Judah and it will devour the fortresses of Jeru salem.”
Judgment on Israel
6 Yahweh says this, “Because Israel has sinned, not once but three times and even more, I will not relent. They sell the just for money and the needy for a pair of sandals;
7 they tread on the head of the poor and trample them upon the dust of the earth, while they silence the right of the afflicted; a man and his father go to the same woman to profane my holy name;
8 they stretch out upon garments taken in pledge, beside every altar; they take the wine of those they swindle and are drunk in the house of their God.
9 It was I who destroyed the Amo rites before them, whose height was like the height of the cedar, a people as sturdy as an oak. I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below.
10 It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness to take possession of the land of the Amo rites.
11 It was I who raised up prophets among your sons, and Nazirites among your young men. Is this not so, people of Israel?” says Yahweh.
12 “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
13 Behold, I will crush you to the ground, as a cart does when it is full of sheaves.
14 The swift shall be unable to flee and the strong man shall lose his strength. The warrior shall not save him self nor the bowman stand his ground.
15 The swift of foot shall not escape nor the horseman save himself.
16 Even the most stout-hearted among the warriors shall flee away naked on that day,” says Yahweh.
------------------------------------------------------------
23 / 23
Comments , Chapter 2
• 2.6 He reproaches Israel for always trampling on the rights of the poor and, by so doing, falsifying religion. They keep up the religious rituals which are a pretext for drunkenness and prostitution. They silence the prophets who proclaim the word of God the source of authentic religion.
You gave the Nazirites wine to drink (v. 12): see Num 6. The followers of a corrupted religion make fun of those men whose lifestyle, even ex ter nally, is different from their own and expresses the personal aspect of their religious com mitment: let them drink! let them be like everyone else because their lifestyle disturbs our consciences.