18. As when Sodom, Gomorrah, and their neighbors were overthrown—oracle of the Lord—no one shall live in it, nor anyone settle there.
19. As when a lion comes up from a thicket of the Jordanto a permanent pasture,So in an instant, I will chase them off;I will establish there whomever I choose.For who is like me? Who holds me accountable?What shepherd can stand against me?
20. Therefore, listen to the strategythe Lord devised for Edom;The plans he has drawn upagainst the inhabitants of Teman:They shall be dragged away, even the smallest of the flock;their pasture shall be aghast because of them.
21. With the din of their collapse the earth quakes,to the Red Sea the outcry is heard!
22. Look! like an eagle he soars aloft,and spreads his wings over Bozrah;On that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors becomelike the heart of a woman in labor.
23. Concerning Damascus.Hamath and Arpad are shamed,for they have heard bad news;Anxious, they surge like the seawhich cannot calm down.
24. Damascus loses heart, turns to flee;panic has seized it.Distress and pangs take hold,like the pain of a woman in labor.
25. How can the glorious city be abandoned,the town of joy!
26. But now its young men shall fall in its squares,all the warriors destroyed on that day—oracle of the Lord of hosts.
27. I will set fire to the wall of Damascus;it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
28. About Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, defeated.Thus says the Lord:Rise up, attack Kedar,destroy the people from the east.