The LORD said, "Moab has always lived secure and has never been taken into exile. Moab is like wine left to settle undisturbed and never poured from jar to jar. Its flavor has never been ruined, and it tastes as good as ever.

We have been mocked too long by the rich and scorned by proud oppressors.

You women who live an easy life, free from worries, listen to what I am saying.

You have been living an easy life, free from worries; but now, tremble with fear! Strip off your clothes and tie rags around your waist.

So the five men left and went to the town of Laish. They saw how the people there lived in security like the Sidonians. They were a peaceful, quiet people, with no argument with anyone; they had all they needed. They lived far away from the Sidonians and had no dealings with any other people.

"Come on," they replied. "Let's attack Laish. We saw the land, and it's very good. Don't stay here doing nothing; hurry! Go on in and take it over!

"Listen to this, you lover of pleasure, you that think you are safe and secure. You claim you are as great as God--- that there is no one else like you. You thought that you would never be a widow or suffer the loss of your children.

"When that day comes and Egypt is destroyed, I will send messengers in ships to arouse the unsuspecting people of Ethiopia, and they will be terrified. That day is coming!"

You will decide to invade a helpless country where the people live in peace and security in unwalled towns that have no defenses.

I will start a fire in the land of Magog and along all the seacoasts where people live undisturbed, and everyone will know that I am the LORD.

This is what the LORD says to his people Israel: "Even though the Assyrians are strong and numerous, they will be destroyed and disappear. My people, I made you suffer, but I will not do it again.

That is what will happen to the city that is so proud of its own power and thinks it is safe. Its people think that their city is the greatest in the world. What a desolate place it will become, a place where wild animals will rest! Everyone who passes by will shrink back in horror.

From the high rocks I can see them; I can watch them from the hills. They are a nation that lives alone; They know they are blessed more than other nations.

So Jacob's descendants live in peace, secure in a land full of grain and wine, where dew from the sky waters the ground.

(SEE 18:27)

Be a shepherd to your people, LORD, the people you have chosen. Although they live apart in the wilderness, there is fertile land around them. Let them go and feed in the rich pastures of Bashan and Gilead, as they did long ago.