The Angel: “Return to your mistress and act as you should, for I will make you into a great nation. Yes, you are pregnant and your baby will be a son, and you are to name him Ishmael (‘God hears’), because God has heard your woes. This son of yours will be a wild one—free and untamed as a wild ass! He will be against everyone, and everyone will feel the same toward him. But he will live near the rest of his kin.”

The ancient poets had referred to King Sihon in this poem: Come to Heshbon, King Sihon’s capital, For a fire has flamed forth And devoured The city of Ar in Moab, On the heights of the Arnon River. Woe to Moab! You are finished, O people of Chemosh; Your sons have fled, And your daughters are captured By King Sihon of the Amorites. He has destroyed The little children And the men and women As far as Dibon, Nophah, and Medeba.

Woe to you who get up early in the morning to go on long drinking bouts that last till late at night—woe to you drunken bums.

Woe to Jerusalem, the city of David. Year after year you make your many offerings,

Woe to my rebellious children, says the Lord; you ask advice from everyone but me and decide to do what I don’t want you to do. You yoke yourselves with unbelievers, thus piling up your sins.

Woe to you, Assyrians, who have destroyed everything around you but have never felt destruction for yourselves. You expect others to respect their promises to you, while you betray them! Now you, too, will be betrayed and destroyed.

Woe to the man who fights with his Creator. Does the pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with him who forms it, saying, “Stop, you’re doing it wrong!” or the pot exclaim, “How clumsy can you be!”?

Woe to the baby just being born who squalls to his father and mother, “Why have you produced me? Can’t you do anything right at all?”

I am keenly aware of your apostasy, your faithlessness to me, and your abominable idol worship in the fields and on the hills. Woe upon you, O Jerusalem! How long before you will be pure?

And woe to you, King Jehoiakim, for you are building your great palace with forced labor. By not paying wages you are building injustice into its walls and oppression into its doorframes and ceilings.

Woe to you, O Moab; the people of the god Chemosh are destroyed, and your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves.

Calamity upon calamity will befall you; woe upon woe, disaster upon disaster! You will long for a prophet to guide you, but the priests and elders and the kings and princes will stand helpless, weeping in despair. The people will tremble with fear, for I will do to them the evil they have done and give them all their just deserts. They shall learn that I am the Lord.”

Tell them, ‘The Lord God says: Woe to these women who are damning the souls of my people, of both young and old alike, by tying magic charms on their wrists, furnishing them with magic veils, and selling them indulgences. They refuse to even offer help unless they get a profit from it.

“‘And then, in addition to all your other wickedness—woe, woe upon you, says the Lord God—

“Son of dust, prophesy to the Ammonites too, for they mocked my people in their woe. Tell them this: “‘Against you also my glittering sword is drawn from its sheath; it is sharpened and polished and flashes like lightning.

For the Lord God says: “Woe to Jerusalem, City of Murderers; you are a pot that is pitted with rust and with wickedness. So take out the meat chunk by chunk in whatever order it comes—for none is better than any other.

“Son of dust, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Say to them, ‘The Lord God says to you: Woe to the shepherds who feed themselves instead of their flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed the sheep?

Woe to the city of Gath. Weep, men of Bakah. In Beth-leaphrah roll in the dust in your anguish and shame.

Woe to you who lie awake at night, plotting wickedness; you rise at dawn to carry out your schemes; because you can, you do.

“Woe to you for getting rich by evil means, attempting to live beyond the reach of danger.

“Woe to you who build cities with money gained from murdering and robbery!

“Woe to you for making your neighboring lands reel and stagger like drunkards beneath your blows, and then gloating over their nakedness and shame.

And woe to you Philistines living on the coast and in the land of Canaan, for the judgment is against you too. The Lord will destroy you until not one of you is left.

Come to the place of safety, all you prisoners, for there is yet hope! I promise right now, I will repay you two mercies for each of your woes!