¹And the prophet called Re'ay spake unto him, saying: "Rejoice this day for a little season in thy feasting; but the LORD, whom Israel glorified, shall take vengeance and destroy thee in the punishment whereof thou didst not doubt."

²Wilt thou say, 'My horses are swift, and therefore I shall escape by fleeing'?

³I tell thee: the people that pursue thee are swifter than eagles. Thou shalt not escape from the judgment of the LORD and the destruction that shall come upon thee.

⁴Wilt thou say, 'I am clad in iron, so that spears and bows cannot wound me'? The LORD who honoureth Israel hath said: "It is not by the spear that I will take vengeance and destroy thee." He spake unto him, "I shall bring upon thee sickness of heart, the itch, and affliction of the joints—infirmities more grievous and more sure than the cast of a spear or the sting of a bow. Yet even by these things I will not finish Mine vengeance."

⁵"Thou hast kindled Mine anger. I shall bring sickness of heart upon thee; thou shalt lack any to help thee, and thou shalt not escape from My dominion until I destroy the remembrance of thy name from this world."

⁶"Because thou hast hardened thy heart and exalted thyself over My country, when I do this thing swiftly in the twinkling of an eye, thou shalt know that I was thy Creator. Thou art before Me as grass before the wind which the fire consumeth, and as the dust which the wind scattereth from the earth."

⁷For thou hast kindled Mine anger and didst not acknowledge thy Creator; I shall forsake all thy kindred, and I will not spare any that approacheth thy fortress.

⁸"And now, turn away from all the iniquity thou hast committed. If thou turn from thy transgression and seek peace in mourning and sorrow before the LORD—if thou beseech Him with a clean heart—the LORD will forgive thee all the sins thou hast committed before Him," he spake unto him.

⁹At that time, Meqabees put on dust and mourned before the LORD because of his iniquity, for the LORD was wroth with him.

¹⁰For His eyes are revealed and He doth not withhold; His ears are opened and He doth not neglect. He maketh not the word which He hath spoken false, and He performeth it swiftly; for the LORD knew He would not hold back the punishment He spake by the mouth of the prophet.

¹¹He cast off his garments, put on sackcloth, sprinkled dust upon his head, and cried and wept before his Creator, the LORD, because of the iniquity he had committed.