“Whoever flees from a disaster will fall into a pit. Whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a trap. I will bring a year of punishment to Moab,” declares the Lord.
What will you do on the day you are called to account ⌞for these things⌟, when the disaster comes from far away? Where will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
Whoever flees from news of a disaster will fall into a pit. Whoever climbs out of that pit will be caught in a trap. The floodgates in the sky will be opened, and the foundations of the earth will shake.
“I’m going to send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch the people of Israel. After that, I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt for them on every mountain and hill and even in the cracks in the rocks.
“That is why their own way will become like slippery paths in the dark. They will be chased away, and they will fall down in the dark. I will bring disaster on them. It is time for them to be punished,” declares the Lord.
Egypt’s hired soldiers are like fattened calves. They will turn and run away together. They won’t stand their ground. The day of destruction is coming. At that time they will be punished.
Kill all their young bulls. Let them go to be slaughtered. How horrible it will be for them when their time has come, the time for them to be punished.
Are they ashamed that they do disgusting things? No, they’re not ashamed. They don’t even know how to blush. So they will die with those who die. They will be brought down when I punish them,’ ” says the Lord.
The time for them to be punished will come. The time for them to pay for their sins will come. ⌞When this happens,⌟ Israel will know it. ⌞They think that⌟ prophets are fools and that spiritual people are crazy. They have sinned a lot, and they are very hostile.
It is like a person who flees from a lion only to be attacked by a bear. It is like a person who goes home and puts his hand on the wall only to be bitten by a snake.
The best of them is like a briar. The most decent person is sharper than thornbushes. The day you thought you would be punished has come. Now is the time you will be confused.