Moab, you made fun of Israel. Israel was caught in the middle of a gang of thieves. When you spoke about Israel, you shook your head and acted as if you were better than it.
So Judah’s country will become an empty desert. People will not stop making fun of it. They will shake their heads as they pass by; they will be shocked at how the country was destroyed.
“A thief is ashamed when someone catches him stealing. In the same way, the family of Israel is ashamed— they, their kings, their officers, their priests, and their prophets.
Jerusalem says, “You who pass by on the road don’t seem to care. Come, look at me and see: Is there any pain like mine? Is there any pain like that he has caused me? The Lord has punished me on the day of his great anger.
Jerusalem is suffering and homeless. She remembers all the good things from the past. But her people were defeated by the enemy, and there was no one to help her. When her enemies saw her, they laughed to see her ruined.
You were happy when the land of Israel was ruined, but I will do the same thing to you. Mount Seir and all Edom, you will become an empty ruin. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”
So, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. The Lord God speaks to the mountains, hills, ravines, and valleys, to the empty ruins and abandoned cities that have been robbed and laughed at by the other nations.
Then Jesus said to the crowd, “You came to get me with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal. Every day I sat in the Temple teaching, and you did not arrest me there.