Concerning whom we have much to say that is also difficult to interpret since you have become dull of hearing.

For when because of the time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you what the  ¹rudiments of the beginning of the  ²oracles of God are and have become those who have need of  ³milk and not of solid food.

For everyone who partakes of milk is inexperienced in the  ¹word of righteousness, for he is an infant;

But solid food is for the full-grown, who because of practice have their  ¹faculties exercised for discriminating between both  ²good and evil.

Therefore leaving the  ¹word of the  ²beginning of Christ, let us  ³be brought on to  ⁴maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith in God,

Of the teaching of  ¹baptisms and of the laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment.

And  ¹this we will do if God permits.

For it is  ¹impossible for those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the  ²heavenly gift and have become  ³partakers of the Holy Spirit

And have tasted the good  ¹word of God and the  ²powers of the age to come,

And yet have  ¹fallen away, to renew themselves again unto repentance,  ²crucifying again for themselves the Son of God and putting Him to open shame.

For the earth, which drinks the  ¹rain which often comes upon it and  ²produces vegetation suitable to those for whose sake also it is cultivated, partakes of blessing from God.

But if it brings forth  ¹thorns and thistles, it is  ²disapproved and  ³near a curse, whose end is to be  ⁴burned.

But we are persuaded of better things concerning you, beloved, and  ¹things which belong to  ²salvation, though we speak thus.

For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name in having  ¹ministered to the saints and in ministering still.

But we desire earnestly that each of you show the same diligence unto the full assurance of our hope until the end,

That you may not be  ¹sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and long-suffering are inheriting the promises.

For God, when He made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, swore by Himself,

Saying, “Surely blessing, I will bless you; and multiplying, I will multiply you.”

And thus when Abraham had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

For men swear by the greater, and for all disputes among them an oath is final for confirmation.

Therefore God, intending to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His counsel, interposed with an oath,

In order that by  ¹two unchangeable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have  ²fled for  ³refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us,

Which we have as an  ¹anchor of the soul, both secure and firm and which  ²enters within the veil,

Where the  ¹Forerunner, Jesus, has entered for us, having become forever a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Concerning  ¹Moab:
Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel:
Woe to Nebo, for it is destroyed;
Kiriathaim is put to shame; it is captured;
The lofty retreat is put to shame and dismayed.

The praise of Moab is no more;
In Heshbon they have devised evil against her, saying:
Come and let us cut her off from being a nation.
You also, O  ¹Madmen, will be brought to silence;
A sword will go after you.

The sound of a cry from Horonaim,
Desolation and great destruction!

Moab is destroyed;
Her young have caused a cry to be heard.

For by the ascent of Luhith
Continual weeping will go up;
For by the descent of Horonaim
They have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.

Flee, save your life,
And be like a shrub in the wilderness.

For because of your trust in your works and in your treasures,
You also will be captured;
And  ¹Chemosh will go forth into exile;
His priests and his princes together.

And a destroyer will come to every city,
And no city will escape;
The valley will also perish,
And the plateau will be destroyed,
As Jehovah has said.

Give wings to Moab,
That she may fly and go away;
And her cities will become a waste,
Without inhabitant in them.

Cursed is he who does the work of Jehovah  ¹negligently,
And cursed is he who keeps his sword from blood.

Moab has been at ease from his youth;
And he is settled on his lees
And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel;
Nor has he gone into exile.
Therefore his taste remains in him,
And his scent is not changed.

Therefore indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will send pourers to him, and they will pour and empty his vessels and shatter  ¹his jars.

And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

How can you say, We are mighty men
And valiant men for war?

Moab has been destroyed,
And its cities have gone up in smoke,
And its choice young men have gone down to slaughter,
Declares the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.

The calamity of Moab is near to coming,
And his affliction hastens quickly.

Lament for him, all who are around him
And all who know his name;
Say, How the strong rod is broken,
The glorious staff.

Come down from glory and sit in thirst,
O daughter who dwells in Dibon,
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
He has destroyed your strongholds.

Stand by the way and watch,
O inhabitant of Aroer;
Ask him who flees and her who escapes,
And say, What has happened?

Moab is put to shame, for it is shattered.
Howl and cry out;
Declare by the Arnon
That Moab is devastated.

And judgment has come upon the land of the Plateau, on Holon and on Jahzah and on Mephaath

And on Dibon and on Nebo and on Beth-diblathaim

And on Kiriathaim and on Beth-gamul and on Beth-meon

And on Kerioth and on Bozrah and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.

The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares Jehovah.

Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against Jehovah; so Moab will wallow in his vomit and will also be in derision.

For was not Israel a derision to you? Or was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head.

Leave the cities and dwell in the rock,
O inhabitants of Moab,
And be like a dove who nests
On the sides of the mouth of the pit.

We have heard of the pride of Moab —
He is extremely proud —
Of his loftiness and his pride and his arrogance
And of the haughtiness of his heart.

I know of his insolence, declares Jehovah;
His boastings are all untrue;
They have accomplished nothing.

Therefore I will wail for Moab,
I will even cry out for all Moab;
There will be mourning for the men of Kir-heres.

With more than the weeping of Jazer
I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah.
Your shoots have crossed over to the sea;
They have reached as far as the sea, to Jazer;
On your summer fruit and on your vintage
The destroyer has fallen.

Rejoicing and exultation are taken away
From the fruited field and from the land of Moab.
And I have caused the wine from the wine presses to cease;
No one will tread them with the harvest shout;
The harvest shout will be no harvest shout.

From the cry of Heshbon as far as Elealeh, even as far as Jahaz, they have uttered their voice, from Zoar as far as Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become a devastation.

And I will bring to an end in Moab the one who offers up in high places and burns incense to his gods, declares Jehovah.

Therefore My heart will moan for Moab like flutes; for the men of Kir-heres My heart will also moan like flutes. As a result, the abundance he has produced has perished.

For every head is bald, and every beard is shaved off; there are cuts on all the hands, and sackcloth on the loins.

On all the roofs of Moab and in her open squares there is wailing everywhere, for I have broken Moab like a vessel which no one desires, declares Jehovah.

How it is shattered! they howl. How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a terror to all who are around him.

For thus says Jehovah,
One will swoop down like an eagle
And spread its wings against Moab.

 ¹Kerioth is captured,
And the strongholds are seized,
And the heart of the mighty men of Moab in that day
Will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

And Moab will be destroyed from being a people,
Because he magnified himself against Jehovah.

Dread, pit, and snare
Are upon you, O inhabitant of Moab,
Declares Jehovah.

He who flees from dread
Will fall into the pit,
And he who comes up out of the pit
Will be taken in the snare;
For I will bring upon her, upon Moab,
The year of their punishment, declares Jehovah.

In the shadow of Heshbon
Those who flee stand without strength;
For fire has gone forth from Heshbon
And a flame from the midst of Sihon;
And it has consumed the corner of Moab
And the top of the head of the sons of tumult.

Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished,
For your sons have been taken captive,
And your daughters have gone into captivity.

 ¹But I will turn again the captivity of Moab
In the last days, declares Jehovah.
Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Concerning the children of  ¹Ammon:
Thus says Jehovah,
Does Israel have no sons?
Or has he no heir?
Why has  ²Malcam possessed Gad,
And why do his people dwell in his cities?

Therefore indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah,
When I will cause the alarm of war to be heard
Against Rabbah of the children of Ammon.
And it will become a mound of desolation,
And its villages will be burned with fire.
And Israel will dispossess those who dispossess him,
Says Jehovah.

Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed;
Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah.
Gird yourselves with sackcloth and wail,
And run to and fro among the enclosures;
For Malcam will go into exile,
Together with his priests and his princes.

Why do you boast in your valleys?
Your valley is flowing away,
O apostate daughter,
Who trusts in her treasures, saying,
Who will come against me?

I will bring dread upon you,
Declares the Lord Jehovah of hosts,
From all around you;
And each one will be driven out headlong,
And no one will gather him who flees.

 ¹But afterward I will turn again
The captivity of the children of Ammon,
Declares Jehovah.