But Sanballat from Horon, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard that we were building again. They made fun of us in a very ugly way. They said, “What are you doing? Are you turning against the king?”
Women, you are calm now, but you should be afraid! Women, you feel safe now, but you should be worried! Take off your nice clothes and put on your clothes of sadness. Wrap those clothes around your waist.
“Moab has never known trouble.\par Moab is like wine left to settle.\par Moab has never been poured\par from one jar to another.\par He has not been taken into captivity.\par So he tastes like he did before.\par And his smell has not changed.”\par
“Moab, you made fun of Israel.\par Israel was caught by a gang of thieves.\par Every time you spoke about Israel,\par you shook your head and acted like you\par were better than Israel.\par
“We have heard about Moab’s pride.\par He was very proud.\par He thought he was important.\par He was always bragging.\par He was very, very proud.”\par
Oh, it will be very bad for you people taking it easy in Zion, {\cf2\super [75]} \par and for you people who feel so safe on Mount Samaria.\par You are “important” leaders\par of the most important nation!\par The “House of Israel”\par comes to you \{for advice\}!\par
People say bad things about us, but we say good things to them. At this time people still treat us like we are the world’s garbage—the trash of the earth.