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Someday I will send an army
to attack you in Rabbah,
    your capital city.
It will be left in ruins,
and the surrounding villages
    will lie in ashes.
You took some of Israel's land,
but on that day
    Israel will take yours!

Cry, people of Heshbon;[a]
your town will become
    a pile of rubble.[b]
You will turn here and there,
    but your path will be blocked.[c]

Put on sackcloth[d] and mourn,
    you citizens of Rabbah,
because the idol you worship[e]
will be taken
    to a foreign country,
along with its priests
    and temple officials.
You rebellious Ammonites
trust your wealth and ask,
    “Who could attack us?”
But I warn you not to boast
    when your strength is fading.[f]

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Footnotes

  1. 49.3 Heshbon: See also 48.45; since Heshbon was near the border of Moab and Ammon, it was probably ruled by the country that was stronger at the time.
  2. 49.3 your town will become a pile of rubble: Or “because the town of Ai has been destroyed”; referring to an Ammonite town named Ai, not the town of that name near Bethel in the land of Israel.
  3. 49.3 You will turn … blocked: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  4. 49.3 sackcloth: See the note at 4.8.
  5. 49.3 the idol you worship: Hebrew “Milcom” (see verse 1 and the note there).
  6. 49.4 when … fading: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

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