Hear you now what the LORD says; Arise, contend you before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

Hear you now what the LORD says; Arise, contend you before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

Continuing: As we saw in the previous post, the mountains and hills are the high places, seats of power in church and state, that have risen up and loom over the inhabitants of the earth. The word rendered “contend” in the title, Micah 6:1, is the Hebrew word riyb, meaning “properly, to toss, i.e. grapple; mostly figuratively, to wrangle, i.e. hold a controversy; (by implication) to defend.”

It (riyb) is telling of presenting God’s side of the argument, the LORD in us speaking for Himself, pleading (riyb) His cause, which is the controversy of Zion. As we know, the controversy (riyb) is about whose ideas and ways are best suited to rule the world, man’s evil, or God’s good?

Isaiah 34
1 Come near, you nations, to hear; and hearken, you people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.
2 For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations [gowy – the masses who don’t know God], and his fury upon all their armies [tsaba’ – these masses gathered to make war]: he has utterly destroyed them, he has delivered them to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 And all the host [tsaba’ – those gathered there to make war against the LORD] of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host [tsaba’ – all those gathered to make war against God’s people] shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea [Esau and Edom, the enemies mixed among us], and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword [this word from His mouth] of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah [among the sheep fold], and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea [of the enemies among us].
7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy [riyb] of Zion.
9 And the streams [the reports and advice broadcast to the inflamed masses] thereof shall be turned into pitch [blackness – ignorance], and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch [flaming darkness – ignorance].
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness [as we know, here are the words tohuw bohuw, which only appear elsewhere in Genesis 1:2 and Jeremiah 4:24, both rendered “without form and void” in telling of the condition the earth “became” before the new creation].
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be a habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
16 Seek you out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it has commanded, and his spirit it has gathered them.
17 And he has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

We are told of these aspects, of the controversy and how the LORD pleads His case, as riyb is rendered “chide” in Exodus 17:2 describing when God’s people tempted Him as they murmured against Moses. As we know, the temptation (trial) was God’s people doubting His presence among them manifested by Him speaking through Moses, as Christ, the Rock from whom the waters, God’s word, flow. When the event is repeated in Numbers 20 the LORD says it’s when the people strove (riyb) against Him. In this occurrence, the LORD tells Moses to speak to the Rock in the presence of the people. Moses instead struck the rock a second time, for which the LORD says, “Because you believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”

Moses’ unbelief (denying it was the LORD in Him) is revealed in the Hebrew words qadash ‘ayin, rendered “sanctify in the eyes.” Qadash means to be (or declare) clean, and ‘ayin also means fountain. The LORD was telling Moses, as He told me and I did, to tell the people plainly He is the fountain from where the pure (clean) word of God is flowing (as His voice).

Amos 5
6 Seek the LORD, and you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel [the houses of God, where they have replaced Him with idols they’ve made].
7 You who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
8 Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
9 That strengthens the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
10 They hate him that rebukes in the gate, and they abhor him that speaks uprightly.
11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine of them.
12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD, says thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful of lamentation to wailing.
17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take you away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols.
24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25 Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.

Micah 5
1 Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops: he has laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
2 But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travails has brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian [communists] shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria [communists] with the sword, and the land of Nimrod [the rebellion] in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our borders.
7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarried not for man, nor waited for the sons of men.
8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treads down, and tears in pieces, and none can deliver.
9 Your hand shall be lifted up upon your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.
10 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD, that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and I will destroy your chariots:
11 And I will cut off the cities of your land, and throw down all your strong holds:
12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of your hand; and you shall have no more soothsayers [deceiving false prophets]:
13 Your graven images also will I cut off, and your standing images out of the midst of you; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.
14 And I will pluck up your groves out of the midst of you: so will I destroy your cities.
15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.

Micah 6
1 Hear you now what the LORD says; Arise, contend [riyb] you before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice [qowl – the LORD’s voice from us].
2 Hear you, O mountains, the LORD’s controversy [riyb], and you strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD has a controversy [riyb] with his people, and he will plead with Israel.
3 O my people, what have I done unto you? and wherein have I wearied you? testify against me.
4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of servants; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that you may know the righteousness of the LORD [when He turned the curse of the false prophets into a blessing upon His people].
6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly WITH your God?
9 The LORD’s voice [qowl – Pleading His case through us] cries unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see your name [shem – meaning His presence realized, “the idea of definite and conspicuous position; an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character”]: hear you the rod, and who has appointed it.
10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Friends, I began this post several days ago, each day not understanding (not seeing) where the LORD was going. This morning, after waiting on Him, I understand.

Jeremiah 4
1 If you will return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then shall you not remove.
2 And you shall swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
5 Declare you in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow you the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
6 Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
7 The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
9 And it shall come to pass at that day, says the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
10 Then said I, Ah, LORD God! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches unto the soul.
11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
12 Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.
13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?
15 For a voice [qowl – the LORD’s speaking to His people, through His archangel] declares from Dan, and publishes affliction from mount Ephraim.
16 Make you mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers [natsar – only used elsewhere by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:6 in telling of the “watchmen,” the elect remnant with the LORD, saying, “Arise you, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.”] come from a far country, and give out their voice [qowl – the LORD’s voice heard from them] against the cities of Judah.
17 As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she has been rebellious against me, says the LORD.
18 Your way and your doings have procured these things unto you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto your heart.
19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound [qowl – the voice of the archasngel] of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound [qowl – the voice] of the trumpet?
22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void [hayah tohuw bohuw]; and the heavens, and they had no light [understanding].
24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
27 For thus has the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
29 The whole city shall flee for the noise [qowl – the voice of the LORD heard from His elect remnant] of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
30 And when you are spoiled, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you rent your face with painting, in vain shall you make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life.
31 For I have heard a voice [qowl – the voice of those who bring forth the living body of Christ] as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bring forth her first child, the voice [qowl – the voice of the new creation of God’s people] of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spread her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers. [“And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” Revelation 12:4]

Jeremiah 5
1 Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem [seeing what will give you understanding], and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof [which lead to destruction], if you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.
2 And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.
3 O LORD, are not your eyes upon the truth? you have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goes out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7 How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.
12 They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
14 Wherefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not, neither understand what they say. [The enemies now mixed among us, who words are as an open grave into which they invite and advise all to follow.]
16 Their quiver is as an open sepulcher [tomb or grave], they are all mighty men.
17 And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fenced cities, wherein you trusted, with the sword. [These are as locust, the words of men in this time of the locust, devouring all that was before them. Before them the land is as Eden, after them destruction and absolute desolation, and My people love to have it so.]
18 Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
19 And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Wherefore does the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shall you answer them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
22 Fear you not me? says the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it [see Job 38:11 below, and then answer Me, if you will, and let us end the controversy]: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserved unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end thereof?

Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind [ca’ar], and said,
2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and answer you me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if you have understanding.
5 Who has laid the measures thereof, if you know? or who has stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shall you come, but no further: and here shall your proud waves be stayed?
12 Have you commanded the morning since your days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light [understanding] is withheld, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Have you entered into the springs of the sea? or have you walked in the search of the depth?
17 Have the gates of death been opened unto you? or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Have you perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if you know it all.

Jeremiah 30
16 Therefore all they that devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil you shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon you will I give for a prey.
17 For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the LORD; because they called you an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeks after.
18 Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be built upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
19 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice [qowl – those from whom the LORD’s voice is heard] of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
20 Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them.
21 And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? says the LORD.
22 And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
23 Behold, the whirlwind [ca’ar – from where the LORD’s voice is heard] of the LORD goes forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind [ca’ar]: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he has done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall consider it.

Jeremiah 31
1 At the same time, says the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
2 Thus says the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
3 The LORD has appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.
4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall again be adorned with your tabrets, and shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
5 You shall yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.
6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen [natsar] upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise you, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.
7 For thus says the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish you, praise you, and say, O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travail with child together: a great company shall return thither.

Friends, the “broad” place spoken of in Jeremiah 5:1, from the Hebrew word rechob, is the “street” Jeremiah later speaks of in Jeremiah 48:39, 49:26 and 50:30. In all of these are the fires and pride that come in the swelling of Jordan, when those who’ve trusted in (are proud of) the power they have to manipulate and control people with lies are destroyed in the consequences.

Jeremiah 48
38 There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab [the open mouths of the misleaders and deceivers, which are the gates that hold God’s people in hell], and in the streets [rechob – the broad way that leads to perdition] thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, says the LORD.
39 They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how has Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him.
40 For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.
41 Kerioth is [their cities are] taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
42 And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against the LORD.
43 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon you, O inhabitant of Moab, says the LORD.
44 He that flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, says the LORD.

Jeremiah 49
21 The earth is moved at the noise [qowl – the voice of the LORD] of their fall, at the cry the noise [qowl – His archangel rightly dividing the waters {correctly interpreting God’s word}] thereof was heard in the Red sea.
22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah [protecting and restoring the strength of His sheepfold]: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom [the enemies mixed among us] be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
23 Concerning Damascus [where the word of the LORD has been silenced and the work stopped]. Hamath [their stronghold] is confounded, and Arpad [and they are scattered]: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea [among the masses]; it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turns herself to flee, and fear has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets [rechob – shall perish in the broad way], and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus [the wall keeping God’s people in hell, in silence and not working], and it [the fire] shall consume the palaces of Benhadad [the political power of the children of the oppressors {the mighty}].

Jeremiah 50
28 The voice [qowl – the voice of the LORD heard from those who’ve escaped confusion’s rule and now understand] of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon [confusion], to declare in Zion [the minds wherein God’s reigns] the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.
29 Call together the archers against Babylon [against the lies that have cause the confusion and chaos]: all you that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do unto her: for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets [rechob – the broad way, the lies, that leads to perdition], and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD.
31 Behold, I am against you, O you most proud [the swelling spoken of in verse 44 below, when the words of death {lies and confusion} overflow their banks {become delusion} and cover the land, as now], says the LORD God of hosts: for your day is come, the time that I will visit you.
32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will [have, by not destroying them] kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
33 Thus says the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead [riyb] their cause [riyb – over the controversy], that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon [cause fear to take hold of those who live in confusion].
35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans [those who used their word to manipulate and control people into doing their evil will], says the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
36 A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.
38 A drought is upon her waters [their words of death]; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon [insane because of] their idols.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited forever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom [in flames] and Gomorrah [in ruin] and the neighbor cities thereof [set them on fire and made them a ruin], says the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice [qowl – the voice of masses that once opposed and resisted God’s word] shall roar like the sea [like the masses, as the sea closing upon the Egyptians], and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon [of confision].
43 The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion [the LORD in His people, shall rise {awaken} from under the word of death that have held them in hell] from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them [the mighty, the oppressors who’ve held them] suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
45 Therefore hear you the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out [as He has]: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.
46 At the noise [qowl – the voice of the LORD’s archangel, His messenger, the least of the flock] of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

Psalms 12
1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceases; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things:
4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, says the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffs at him.
6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7 You shall keep them, O LORD, you shall preserve [natsar – be a watchmen over] them from this generation forever.
8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.