Joshua 6:21The MessageThey put everything in the city under the holy curse, killing man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey. See the chapter |
“Come down from your high horse, pampered beauty of Dibon. Sit in dog dung. The destroyer of Moab will come against you. He’ll wreck your safe, secure houses. Stand on the roadside, pampered women of Aroer. Interview the refugees who are running away. Ask them, ‘What’s happened? And why?’ Moab will be an embarrassing memory, nothing left of the place. Wail and weep your eyes out! Tell the bad news along the Arnon river. Tell the world that Moab is no more.
The people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai and cooked up a ruse. They posed as travelers: their donkeys loaded with patched sacks and mended wineskins, threadbare sandals on their feet, tattered clothes on their bodies, nothing but dry crusts and crumbs for food. They came to Joshua at Gilgal and spoke to the men of Israel, “We’ve come from a far-off country; make a covenant with us.”
A strong Angel reached for a boulder—huge, like a millstone—and heaved it into the sea, saying, Heaved and sunk, the great city Babylon, sunk in the sea, not a sign of her ever again. Silent the music of harpists and singers— you’ll never hear flutes and trumpets again. Artisans of every kind—gone; you’ll never see their likes again. The voice of a millstone grinding falls dumb; you’ll never hear that sound again. The light from lamps, never again; never again laughter of bride and groom. Her traders robbed the whole earth blind, and by black-magic arts deceived the nations. The only thing left of Babylon is blood— the blood of saints and prophets, the murdered and the martyred.