A man might have a hundred children and live a long time, but what good is it if he can’t enjoy the good God gives him or have a proper burial? I say a baby born dead is better off than he is.
The strong, walled cities of Israel will be destroyed. The government in Damascus will end. Those left alive of Aram will be like the glory of Israel,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
The people from Israel are worried about the calf-shaped idol at Beth Aven. The people will cry about it, and the priests will cry about it. They used to shout for joy about its glory,
Lord, give them what they should have. What will you give them? Make their women unable to have children; give them dried-up breasts that cannot feed their babies.
This is what the Lord says: “For the many crimes of Ammon, I will punish them. They ripped open the pregnant women in Gilead so they could take over that land and make their own country larger.
She will give birth to a baby, but she will plan to eat the baby and what comes after the birth itself. She will eat them secretly while the enemy surrounds the city. Those people will make you starve in all your cities.
Joseph has the majesty of a firstborn bull; he is as strong as a wild ox. He will stab other nations, even those nations far away. These are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and these are the thousands of Manasseh.”