48
1 Concerning Moab, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Woe to Nebo, for it is devastated!
Kiriathaim is put to shame and captured;
the stronghold is put to shame and shattered.
2 Moab’s praise is no more.
In Heshbon they have devised disaster against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off as a nation.’ You too, Madmen, will be silenced;
the sword will pursue you.
3 A cry comes from Horonaim: devastation and great destruction!
4 Moab is broken;
her little ones make their cries heard.
5 For on the ascent to Luhith, weeping rises upon weeping.
On the slope down to Horonaim they hear the anguished cry of destruction.
6 Flee! Save your lives!
Be like a shrub in the wilderness.
7 Because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you too will be captured.
Chemosh will go into exile together with his priests and officials.
8 The destroyer will come against every city, and no city will escape.
The valley will perish, and the plateau will be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken.
9 Give wings to Moab, for she will surely fly away.
Her cities will become a desolation, with no one living in them.
10 Cursed is the one who does the LORD’s work carelessly, and cursed is the one who keeps his sword from blood.
11 Moab has been at ease since his youth;
he has rested on his dregs.
He has not been poured from vessel to vessel or gone into exile.
So his taste has remained in him, and his aroma has not changed.
12 Therefore look, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will send him pourers who will pour him out.
They will empty his vessels and smash their jars.
13 Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted.
14 How can you say, ‘We are warriors, valiant men for battle’?
15 Moab is devastated;
the destroyer has gone up against her cities, and Moab’s finest young men have gone down to slaughter, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
16 Moab’s calamity is near, and his disaster is coming very swiftly.
17 Mourn for him, all his neighbors and all who know his name.
Say, ‘How the mighty staff is broken, the glorious rod!’
18 Come down from your glory and sit in thirst, daughter dwelling in Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you and ruined your fortresses.
19 Stand beside the road and watch, inhabitant of Aroer.
Ask the fleeing man and the escaping woman, ‘What has happened?’
20 Moab is put to shame, for he is shattered.
Wail and cry out!
Announce in Arnon that Moab is devastated.
21 Judgment has come upon the land of the plateau, upon Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,
22 upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,
23 upon Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,
24 upon Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.
25 Moab’s horn is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the LORD.
26 Make him drunk, for he exalted himself against the LORD.
Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he too will become a laughingstock.
27 Was Israel not a laughingstock to you?
Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you shook your head?
28 Leave the cities and dwell in the rock, inhabitants of Moab.
Be like a dove that nests at the sides of a cavern’s mouth.
29 We have heard of Moab’s pride—he is very proud—his loftiness, arrogance, pride, and haughty heart.
30 I know his insolence, declares the LORD, but it is empty.
His boasts accomplish nothing.
31 Therefore I wail for Moab;
I cry out for all Moab.
There is moaning for the men of Kir-heres.
32 More than the weeping for Jazer, I weep for you, vine of Sibmah.
Your branches crossed the sea;
they reached the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruit and your grape harvest.
33 Joy and gladness have been taken from the fruitful land and the land of Moab.
I have stopped the wine from the winepresses.
No one treads with joyful shouts;
the shouts are not shouts of joy.
34 From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, they raise their voices, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah.
Even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate.
35 I will put an end in Moab, declares the LORD, to the one who offers on the high place and burns incense to his gods.
36 Therefore my heart moans for Moab like flutes, and my heart moans like flutes for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth he acquired has perished.
37 Every head is bald, and every beard is clipped.
There are cuts on every hand and sackcloth around every waist.
38 On all the rooftops of Moab and in her squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel no one wants, declares the LORD.
39 How he is shattered!
Wail!
How Moab has turned his back in shame!
Moab has become a laughingstock and a terror to all his neighbors.
40 For thus says the LORD: Look, one swoops like an eagle and spreads his wings over Moab.
41 Kerioth is captured, and the strongholds are seized.
On that day the hearts of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
42 Moab will be destroyed as a people, for he exalted himself against the LORD.
43 Terror, pit, and snare are upon you, inhabitant of Moab, declares the LORD.
44 The one who flees from terror will fall into the pit, and the one who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare.
For I will bring upon her, upon Moab, the year of their punishment, declares the LORD.
45 In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand exhausted.
But fire has gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon.
It has devoured the temples of Moab and the crowns of the heads of the tumultuous people.
46 Woe to you, Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished, for your sons have been taken captive and your daughters into captivity.
47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the LORD.”
Thus far is the judgment of Moab.