<p class="poetry">Like lions his enemies roar victoriously over him;p> <p class="poetry">they raise their voices in triumph.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They have laid his land waste;p> <p class="poetry">his cities have been burned down and deserted.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will restore the ruined houses of the descendants of Jacob.p> <p class="poetry">I will show compassion on their ruined homes.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Every city will be rebuilt on its former ruins.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Every fortified dwelling will occupy its traditional site.<n id="3" />p>

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, promise: &#8220;David will never lack a successor to occupy<n id="1" /> the throne over the nation of Israel.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Edom will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrahp> <p class="poetry">and the towns that were around them.p> <p class="poetry">No one will live there.p> <p class="poetry">No human being will settle in it,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Hazor will become a permanent wasteland,p> <p class="poetry">a place where only jackals live.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">No one will live there.p> <p class="poetry">No human being will settle in it.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins.p> <p class="poetry">She has become a dry and barren desert.p> <p class="poetry">No one lives in those towns any more.p> <p class="poetry">No one even passes through them.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">They did not ask:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Where is the <sc>Lordsc> who delivered us out of Egypt,p> <p class="poetry">who brought us through the wilderness,p> <p class="poetry">through a land of desert sands and rift valleys,p> <p class="poetry">through a land of drought and deep darkness,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">through a land in which no one travels,p> <p class="poetry">and where no one lives?&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime.p> <p class="poetry">For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of Davidp> <p class="poetry">or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.&#8221;p>

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm that<n id="1" /> I will soon give the order and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it and capture it and burn it down. I will also make the towns of Judah desolate so that there will be no one living in them.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;p>

I for my part will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians<n id="1" /> whenever they come to us. You for your part go ahead and harvest the wine, the dates, the figs,<n id="2" /> and the olive oil, and store them in jars. Go ahead and settle down in the towns that you have taken over.&#8221;<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke about the Ammonites.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do you think there are not any people of the nation of Israel remaining?p> <p class="poetry">Do you think there are not any of them remaining to reinherit their land?p> <p class="poetry">Is that why you people who worship the god Milcom<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">have taken possession of the territory of Gad and live in his cities?<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will destroy Babylonia just like I didp> <p class="poetry">Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns.p> <p class="poetry">No one will live there.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">No human being will settle in it,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />p>