²¹ If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
    if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
²² In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
    and the Lord will reward you.

²³ Like a north wind that brings unexpected rain
    is a sly tongue – which provokes a horrified look.

²⁴ Better to live on a corner of the roof
    than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

²⁵ Like cold water to a weary soul
    is good news from a distant land.
²⁶ Like a muddied spring or a polluted well
    are the righteous who give way to the wicked.

²⁷ It is not good to eat too much honey,
    nor is it honourable to search out matters that are too deep.

²⁸ Like a city whose walls are broken through
    is a person who lacks self-control.
26 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
    honour is not fitting for a fool.
² Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow,
    an undeserved curse does not come to rest.

If we died with him,
    we will also live with him;
¹² if we endure,
    we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
    he will also disown us;
¹³ if we are faithless,
    he remains faithful,
    for he cannot disown himself.

‘Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
    Has counsel perished from the prudent?
    Has their wisdom decayed?
⁸ Turn and flee, hide in deep caves,
    you who live in Dedan,
for I will bring disaster on Esau
    at the time when I punish him.
⁹ If grape-pickers came to you,
    would they not leave a few grapes?
If thieves came during the night,
    would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
¹⁰ But I will strip Esau bare;
    I will uncover his hiding-places,
    so that he cannot conceal himself.
His armed men are destroyed,
    also his allies and neighbours,
    so there is no one to say,
¹¹ “Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive.
    Your widows too can depend on me.”’

¹⁴ I have heard a message from the Lord;
    an envoy was sent to the nations to say,
‘Assemble yourselves to attack it!
    Rise up for battle!’

¹⁵ ‘Now I will make you small among the nations,
    despised by mankind.
¹⁶ The terror you inspire
    and the pride of your heart have deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rocks,
    who occupy the heights of the hill.
Though you build your nest as high as the eagle’s,
    from there I will bring you down,’
declares the Lord.
¹⁷ ‘Edom will become an object of horror;
    all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff
    because of all its wounds.
¹⁸ As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown,
    along with their neighbouring towns,’
says the Lord,
‘so no one will live there;
    no people will dwell in it.

¹⁹ ‘Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets
    to a rich pasture-land,
I will chase Edom from its land in an instant.
    Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?
Who is like me and who can challenge me?
    And what shepherd can stand against me?’

²⁰ Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned against Edom,
    what he has purposed against those who live in Teman:
the young of the flock will be dragged away;
    their pasture will be appalled at their fate.
²¹ At the sound of their fall the earth will tremble;
    their cry will resound to the Red Sea.^[b]
22 Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down,
    spreading its wings over Bozrah.
In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors
    will be like the heart of a woman in labour.

‘Hamath and Arpad are dismayed,
    for they have heard bad news.
They are disheartened,
    troubled like^[c] the restless sea.
²⁴ Damascus has become feeble,
    she has turned to flee
    and panic has gripped her;
anguish and pain have seized her,
    pain like that of a woman in labour.
²⁵ Why has the city of renown not been abandoned,
    the town in which I delight?
²⁶ Surely, her young men will fall in the streets;
    all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,’
declares the Lord Almighty.
²⁷ ‘I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;
    it will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.’

‘Arise, and attack Kedar
    and destroy the people of the East.
²⁹ Their tents and their flocks will be taken;
    their shelters will be carried off
    with all their goods and camels.
People will shout to them,
    “Terror on every side!”

³⁰ ‘Flee quickly away!
    Stay in deep caves, you who live in Hazor,’
declares the Lord.
‘Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has plotted against you;
    he has devised a plan against you.

³¹ ‘Arise and attack a nation at ease,
    which lives in confidence,’
declares the Lord,
‘a nation that has neither gates nor bars;
    its people live far from danger.
³² Their camels will become plunder,
    and their large herds will be spoils of war.
I will scatter to the winds those who are in distant places^[d]
    and will bring disaster on them from every side,’
declares the Lord.
³³ ‘Hazor will become a haunt of jackals,
    a desolate place for ever.
No one will live there;
    no people will dwell in it.’

‘See, I will break the bow of Elam,
    the mainstay of their might.
³⁶ I will bring against Elam the four winds
    from the four quarters of heaven;
I will scatter them to the four winds,
    and there will not be a nation
    where Elam’s exiles do not go.
³⁷ I will shatter Elam before their foes,
    before those who want to kill them;
I will bring disaster on them,
    even my fierce anger,’
declares the Lord.
‘I will pursue them with the sword
    until I have made an end of them.
³⁸ I will set my throne in Elam
    and destroy her king and officials,’
declares the Lord.

³⁹ ‘Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam
    in days to come,’
declares the Lord.

² ‘Announce and proclaim among the nations,
    lift up a banner and proclaim it;
    keep nothing back, but say,
“Babylon will be captured;
    Bel will be put to shame,
    Marduk filled with terror.
Her images will be put to shame
    and her idols filled with terror.”
³ A nation from the north will attack her
    and lay waste her land.
No one will live in it;
    both people and animals will flee away.

⁴ ‘In those days, at that time,’
    declares the Lord,
‘the people of Israel and the people of Judah together
    will go in tears to seek the Lord their God.
⁵ They will ask the way to Zion
    and turn their faces towards it.
They will come and bind themselves to the Lord
    in an everlasting covenant
    that will not be forgotten.

⁶ ‘My people have been lost sheep;
    their shepherds have led them astray
    and caused them to roam on the mountains.
They wandered over mountain and hill
    and forgot their own resting place.
⁷ Whoever found them devoured them;
    their enemies said, “We are not guilty,
for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture,
    the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.”

⁸ ‘Flee out of Babylon;
    leave the land of the Babylonians,
    and be like the goats that lead the flock.
⁹ For I will stir up and bring against Babylon
    an alliance of great nations from the land of the north.
They will take up their positions against her,
    and from the north she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like skilled warriors
    who do not return empty-handed.
¹⁰ So Babylonia^[f] will be plundered;
    all who plunder her will have their fill,’
declares the Lord.