48
1 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all spoke about Moab.
“Sure to be judged is Nebo! Indeed, it will be destroyed!
Kiriathaim will suffer disgrace. It will be captured!
Its fortress will suffer disgrace. It will be torn down!
2 People will not praise Moab any more.
The enemy will capture Heshbon and plot how to destroy Moab,
saying, ‘Come, let’s put an end to that nation!’
City of Madmen, you will also be destroyed.
A destructive army will march against you.
3 Cries of anguish will arise in Horonaim,
‘Oh, the ruin and great destruction!’
4 “Moab will be crushed.
Her children will cry out in distress.
5 Indeed they will climb the slopes of Luhith,
weeping continually as they go.
For on the road down to Horonaim
they will hear the cries of distress over the destruction.
6 They will hear, ‘Run! Save yourselves!
Even if you must be like a lonely shrub in the desert!’
7 “Moab, you trust in the things you do and in your riches.
So you too will be conquered.
Your god Chemosh will go into exile
along with his priests and his officials.
8 The destroyer will come against every town.
Not one town will escape.
The towns in the valley will be destroyed.
The cities on the high plain will be laid waste.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
9 Set up a gravestone for Moab,
for it will certainly be laid in ruins!
Its cities will be laid waste
and become uninhabited.”
10 A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work!
A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction!
11 “From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed.
It has never been taken into exile.
Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs,
never poured out from one jar to another.
They are like wine which tastes like it always did,
whose aroma has remained unchanged.
12 But the time is coming when I will send
men against Moab who will empty it out.
They will empty the towns of their people,
then will lay those towns in ruins.
I, the Lord, affirm it!
13 The people of Moab will be disappointed by their god Chemosh.
They will be as disappointed as the people of Israel were
when they put their trust in the calf god at Bethel.
14 How can you men of Moab say, ‘We are heroes,
men who are mighty in battle?’
15 Moab will be destroyed. Its towns will be invaded.
Its finest young men will be slaughtered.
I, the King, the Lord who rules over all, affirm it!
16 Moab’s destruction is at hand.
Disaster will come on it quickly.
17 Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it,
all of you nations that know of its fame.
Mourn and say, ‘Alas, its powerful influence has been broken!
Its glory and power have been done away!’
18 Come down from your place of honor;
sit on the dry ground, you who live in Dibon.
For the one who will destroy Moab will attack you;
he will destroy your fortifications.
19 You who live in Aroer,
stand by the road and watch.
Question the man who is fleeing and the woman who is escaping.
Ask them, ‘What has happened?’
20 They will answer, ‘Moab is disgraced, for it has fallen!
Wail and cry out in mourning!
Announce along the Arnon River
that Moab has been destroyed.’
21 “Judgment will come on the cities on the high plain: on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,
22 on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth Diblathaim,
23 on Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul, and Beth Meon,
24 on Kerioth and Bozrah. It will come on all the towns of Moab, both far and near.
25 Moab’s might will be crushed. Its power will be broken. I, the Lord, affirm it!
26 “Moab has vaunted itself against me.
So make him drunk with the wine of my wrath
until he splashes around in his own vomit,
until others treat him as a laughingstock.
27 For did not you people of Moab laugh at the people of Israel?
Did you think that they were nothing but thieves,
that you shook your head in contempt
every time you talked about them?
28 Leave your towns, you inhabitants of Moab.
Go and live in the cliffs.
Be like a dove that makes its nest
high on the sides of a ravine.
29 I have heard how proud the people of Moab are,
I know how haughty they are.
I have heard how arrogant, proud, and haughty they are,
what a high opinion they have of themselves.
30 I, the Lord, affirm that I know how arrogant they are.
But their pride is ill-founded.
Their boastings will prove to be false.
31 So I will weep with sorrow for Moab.
I will cry out in sadness for all of Moab.
I will moan for the people of Kir Heres.
32 I will weep for the grapevines of Sibmah
just like the town of Jazer weeps over them.
Their branches once spread as far as the Dead Sea.
They reached as far as the town of Jazer.
The destroyer will ravage
her fig, date, and grape crops.
33 Joy and gladness will disappear
from the fruitful land of Moab.
I will stop the flow of wine from the winepresses.
No one will stomp on the grapes there and shout for joy.
The shouts there will be shouts of soldiers,
not the shouts of those making wine.
34 Cries of anguish raised from Heshbon and Elealeh
will be sounded as far as Jahaz.
They will be sounded from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah.
For even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up.
35 I will put an end in Moab
to those who make offerings at her places of worship.
I will put an end to those who sacrifice to other gods.
I, the Lord, affirm it!
36 So my heart moans for Moab
like a flute playing a funeral song.
Yes, like a flute playing a funeral song,
my heart moans for the people of Kir Heres.
For the wealth they have gained will perish.
37 For all of them will shave their heads in mourning.
They will all cut off their beards to show their sorrow.
They will all make gashes in their hands.
They will all put on sackcloth.
38 On all the housetops in Moab
and in all its public squares
there will be nothing but mourning.
For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar.
I, the Lord, affirm it!
39 Oh, how shattered Moab will be!
Oh, how her people will wail!
Oh, how she will turn away in shame!
Moab will become an object of ridicule,
a terrifying sight to all the nations that surround her.”
40 For the Lord says,
“Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings
a nation will swoop down on Moab.
41 Her towns will be captured.
Her fortresses will be taken.
At that time the soldiers of Moab will be frightened
like a woman in labor.
42 Moab will be destroyed and no longer be a nation,
because she has vaunted herself against the Lord.
43 Terror, pits, and traps are in store
for the people who live in Moab.
I, the Lord, affirm it!
44 Anyone who flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit.
Anyone who climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a trap.
For the time is coming
when I will punish the people of Moab.
I, the Lord, affirm it!
45 In the shadows of the walls of Heshbon
those trying to escape will stand helpless.
For a fire will burst forth from Heshbon.
Flames will shoot out from the former territory of Sihon.
They will burn the foreheads of the people of Moab,
the skulls of those war-loving people.
46 Moab, you are doomed!
You people who worship Chemosh will be destroyed.
Your sons will be taken away captive.
Your daughters will be carried away into exile.
47 Yet in days to come
I will reverse Moab’s ill fortune.”
says the Lord.
The judgment against Moab ends here.