\{God is ready to punish evil people.\}\par The Lord has a cup in his hand.\par That cup is filled with poisoned wine.\par He will pour this wine (punishment),\par and wicked people will drink it\par to the last drop.\par
People will hide behind rocks and in cracks in the ground. People will be afraid of the Lord and his great power. This will happen when the Lord stands to make the earth shake.
Be surprised and amazed!\par You will become drunk—\par but not from wine.\par Look and be amazed!\par You will stumble and fall—\par but not from beer.\par
“Those people hurt you.\par But I will force those people\par to eat their own bodies.\par Their own blood will be\par the wine that makes them drunk.\par Then every person will know that\par the Lord saved you.\par All people will know that\par the Powerful One of Jacob saved you.”\par
I will make Babylon’s wise men\par and important officials drunk.\par I will make the governors, officers,\par and soldiers drunk too.\par Then they will sleep forever.\par They will never wake up.”\par The King said these things.\par His name is the Lord All-Powerful.\par
“Why are we just sitting here?\par Come, let’s run to the strong cities.\par If the Lord our God is going to make us die,\par then let’s die there.\par We have sinned against the Lord,\par so God gave us poisoned water to drink.\par
Israel sinned and built many high places. {\cf2\super [104]} The high places of Aven {\cf2\super [105]} will be destroyed. Thorns and weeds will grow on their altars. {\cf2\super [106]} Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
If they hide at the top of Mount Carmel, {\cf2\super [112]} \par I will find them there,\par and I will take them from that place.\par If they try to hide from me\par at the bottom of the sea,\par I will command the snake,\par and it will bite them.\par
They will crawl in the dust like a snake.\par They will shake with fear.\par They will be like insects crawling\par from their holes in the ground\par and coming to the Lord our God.\par God, they will fear and respect you!\par
The Israelites saw that they were in trouble. They felt trapped. They ran away to hide in caves and cracks in the rock. They hid among the rocks, in wells, and in other holes in the ground.
So Jonathan and his helper let the Philistines see them. The Philistine guards said, “Look! The Hebrews are coming out of the holes they were hiding in!”