“Are there no descendants of Israel
    to inherit the land of Gad?
Why are you, who worship Molech,^[a]
    living in its towns?
² In the days to come,” says the Lord,
    “I will sound the battle cry against your city of Rabbah.
It will become a desolate heap of ruins,
    and the neighboring towns will be burned.
Then Israel will take back the land
    you took from her,” says the Lord.

³ “Cry out, O Heshbon,
    for the town of Ai is destroyed.
Weep, O people of Rabbah!
    Put on your clothes of mourning.
Weep and wail, hiding in the hedges,
    for your god Molech, with his priests and officials,
    will be hauled off to distant lands.
⁴ You are proud of your fertile valleys,
    but they will soon be ruined.
You trusted in your wealth,
    you rebellious daughter,
    and thought no one could ever harm you.
⁵ But look! I will bring terror upon you,”
    says the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“Your neighbors will chase you from your land,
    and no one will help your exiles as they flee.
⁶ But I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites
    in days to come.
    I, the Lord, have spoken.”

“The people of Ammon have sinned again and again,
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
When they attacked Gilead to extend their borders,
    they ripped open pregnant women with their swords.
¹⁴ So I will send down fire on the walls of Rabbah,
    and all its fortresses will be destroyed.
The battle will come upon them with shouts,
    like a whirlwind in a mighty storm.
¹⁵ And their king^[a] and his princes will go into exile together,”
    says the Lord.

¹⁰ They will receive the wages of their pride,
    for they have scoffed at the people of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
¹¹ The Lord will terrify them
    as he destroys all the gods in the land.
Then nations around the world will worship the Lord,
    each in their own land.

“A sword, a sword
    is drawn for your slaughter.
It is polished to destroy,
    flashing like lightning!
²⁹ Your prophets have given false visions,
    and your fortune-tellers have told lies.
The sword will fall on the necks of the wicked
    for whom the day of final reckoning has come.

³⁰ “Now return the sword to its sheath,
    for in your own country,
the land of your birth,
    I will pass judgment upon you.
³¹ I will pour out my fury on you
    and blow on you with the fire of my anger.
I will hand you over to cruel men
    who are skilled in destruction.
³² You will be fuel for the fire,
    and your blood will be spilled in your own land.
You will be utterly wiped out,
    your memory lost to history,
    for I, the Lord, have spoken!”