Command the horses to go and the chariots to roll! Send out the soldiers: men from Ethiopia and Libya, carrying shields, and skilled archers from Lydia.' "

Your soldiers have stumbled and fallen; each one says to the other, 'Hurry! Let's go home to our people and escape the enemy's sword!'

The Ammonites realized that they had made David their enemy, so they hired twenty thousand Syrian soldiers from Bethrehob and Zobah, twelve thousand men from Tob, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men.

The Lord had made the Syrians hear what sounded like the advance of a large army with horses and chariots, and the Syrians thought that the king of Israel had hired Hittite and Egyptian kings and their armies to attack them.

"Soldiers from Persia, Lydia, and Libya served in your army. They hung their shields and their helmets in your barracks. They are the men who won glory for you.

Soldiers from Arvad guarded your walls, and troops from Gamad guarded your towers. They hung their shields on your walls. They are the ones who made you beautiful.

There will be war in Egypt And great distress in Ethiopia. Many in Egypt will be killed; The country will be plundered And left in ruins.

The LORD says, "From Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south, all Egypt's defenders will be killed in battle. Egypt's proud army will be destroyed. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken.

The LORD says, "People of Babylonia, you plundered my nation. You are happy and glad, going about like a cow threshing grain or like a neighing horse,

Kill all their soldiers! Slaughter them! The people of Babylonia are doomed! The time has come for them to be punished!"

The people will fall like wild oxen and young bulls, and the earth will be red with blood and covered with fat.

Better to eat vegetables with people you love than to eat the finest meat where there is hate.

How terrible it will be for you that stretch out on your luxurious couches, feasting on veal and lamb!

"But what do I see?" asks the LORD. "They are turning back in terror. Their soldiers are beaten back; overcome with fear, they run as fast as they can and do not look back.

Why has your mighty god Apis fallen? The LORD has struck him down!'

Your soldiers have stumbled and fallen; each one says to the other, 'Hurry! Let's go home to our people and escape the enemy's sword!'

I will scatter my people before their enemies, like dust blown by the east wind. I will turn my back on them; I will not help them when the disaster comes."

"The LORD's people grew rich, but rebellious; they were fat and stuffed with food. They abandoned God their Creator and rejected their mighty savior.

But the Lord laughs at wicked people, because he knows they will soon be destroyed.

What will you do when God punishes you? What will you do when he brings disaster on you from a distant country? Where will you run to find help? Where will you hide your wealth?

"You were Israel's constant enemy and let her people be slaughtered in the time of her disaster, the time of final punishment for her sins.

The time for punishment has come, the time when people will get what they deserve. When that happens, Israel will know it! "This prophet," you say, "is a fool. This inspired man is insane." You people hate me so much because your sin is so great.

You should not have entered the city of my people to gloat over their suffering and to seize their riches on the day of their disaster.

Even the best and most honest of them are as worthless as weeds. The day has come when God will punish the people, as he warned them through their watchmen, the prophets. Now they are in confusion.