⁹ The land of Israel wilts in mourning.
    Lebanon withers with shame.
The plain of Sharon is now a wilderness.
    Bashan and Carmel have been plundered.

¹⁸ “As surely as I live,” says the King,
    whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
“one is coming against Egypt
    who is as tall as Mount Tabor,
    or as Mount Carmel by the sea!

²⁴ By your messengers you have defied the Lord.
    You have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have conquered the highest mountains—
    yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
    and its finest cypress trees.
I have reached its farthest heights
    and explored its deepest forests.