1 This is what the LORD {YHWH, Sentence Upholder} says: For three transgressions {pishʿe: covenant rebellions} of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the sentence, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.
2 I {YHWH, Fire-Sending Judge} will send fire against Moab; it will devour the palaces of Kerioth, and Moab will die in an uproar, with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet {shofar: alarm horn}.
3 I will cut off the judge {shofet: governing magistrate} from her midst, and I will kill all her princes with him; says the LORD {YHWH, Sentence Giver}.
4 Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Sentence-Holder}: For three transgressions of Judah and for four, I will not turn it back, because they have despised the law {torat: covenant instruction} of the LORD and have not kept His statutes; their lies led them astray—lies after which their fathers walked.
5 I {YHWH, Consuming Judge} will unleash fire {eish: Judgment Blaze} in Judah, and it will consume the palaces of Jerusalem.
6 Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Holy Judge}: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke {ashibennu: cancel sentence} it, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for the price of sandals.”
7 They are the ones who trample {hashoafim: predatory craving} the dust of the earth onto the head of the poor, and they turn aside the way of the humble; a man and his father go to the same young woman, in order to profane My {YHWH, Holy Judge} holy name.
8 Beside every altar they stretch out on garments {begadim: seized cloaks} taken in pledge, and in the house of their God {Elohim, Holy Judge} they drink wine taken from those fined.
9 Yet I {YHWH, Battle Deliverer} Myself destroyed the Amorite before them; his height was like cedars, and he was sturdy {khason: unyielding strength} as oaks; and I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath.
10 And I {YHWH, Covenant Deliverer} brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness for forty years, so that you would possess the land of the Amorite {haemori: Canaanite people}.
11 From your sons I raised up prophets {neviim: commissioned spokesmen}, and from your young men I raised up Nazirites. Is this not so, O sons of Israel? declares the LORD {YHWH, Prophetic Sender}.
12 But you made the Nazirites {nezirim: vow-bound ones} drink wine, and you commanded the prophets {neviim: God’s heralds}, saying, “Do not prophesy.”
13 Behold, I {YHWH, Just Judge} will press you down in your place, just as a cart full {hamleah: packed tight} of sheaves presses down.
14 Escape{manos: way out} will be cut off from the swift; the strong will not summon his strength, and the mighty man will not deliver himself{nafsho: own life}.
15 The one who grasps {tophes: weapon-handler} the bow will not stand, and the swift in his feet will not escape, and the rider of the horse will not escape his life {nafsho: personal life}.
16 Even the courageous {ammits: unshaken courage} in heart among the mighty will flee naked on that day, declares the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}.