1 Concerning Moab: This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold will be disgraced and shattered. |
2 Moab will be praised no more; in Heshbon men will plot her downfall: 'Come, let us put an end to that nation.' You too, O Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you. |
3 Listen to the cries from Horonaim, cries of great havoc and destruction. |
4 Moab will be broken; her little ones will cry out. |
5 They go up the way to Luhith, weeping bitterly as they go; on the road down to Horonaim anguished cries over the destruction are heard. |
6 Flee! Run for your lives; become like a bush in the desert. |
7 Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials. |
8 The destroyer will come against every town, and not a town will escape. The valley will be ruined and the plateau destroyed, because the LORD has spoken. |
9 Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste; her towns will become desolate, with no one to live in them. |
10 "A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD'S work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed! |
11 "Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another--she has not gone into exile. So she tastes as she did, and her aroma is unchanged. |
12 But days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will send men who pour from jars, and they will pour her out; they will empty her jars and smash her jugs. |
13 Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel. |
14 "How can you say, 'We are warriors, men valiant in battle'? |
15 Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded; her finest young men will go down in the slaughter," declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty. |
16 "The fall of Moab is at hand; her calamity will come quickly. |
17 Mourn for her, all who live around her, all who know her fame; say, 'How broken is the mighty scepter, how broken the glorious staff!' |
18 "Come down from your glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitants of the Daughter of Dibon, for he who destroys Moab will come up against you and ruin your fortified cities. |
19 Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, ask them, 'What has happened?' |
20 Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered. Wail and cry out! Announce by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed. |
21 Judgment has come to the plateau--to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath, |
22 to Dibon, Nebo and Beth Diblathaim, |
23 to Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul and Beth Meon, |
24 to Kerioth and Bozrah--to all the towns of Moab, far and near. |
25 Moab's horn is cut off; her arm is broken," declares the LORD. |
26 "Make her drunk, for she has defied the LORD. Let Moab wallow in her vomit; let her be an object of ridicule. |
27 Was not Israel the object of your ridicule? Was she caught among thieves, that you shake your head in scorn whenever you speak of her? |
28 Abandon your towns and dwell among the rocks, you who live in Moab. Be like a dove that makes its nest at the mouth of a cave. |
29 "We have heard of Moab's pride--her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart. |
30 I know her insolence but it is futile," declares the LORD, "and her boasts accomplish nothing. |
31 Therefore I wail over Moab, for all Moab I cry out, I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth. |
32 I weep for you, as Jazer weeps, O vines of Sibmah. Your branches spread as far as the sea; they reached as far as the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your ripened fruit and grapes. |
33 Joy and gladness are gone from the orchards and fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy. Although there are shouts, they are not shouts of joy. |
34 "The sound of their cry rises from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah, for even the waters of Nimrim are dried up. |
35 In Moab I will put an end to those who make offerings on the high places and burn incense to their gods," declares the LORD. |
36 "So my heart laments for Moab like a flute; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir Hareseth. The wealth they acquired is gone. |
37 Every head is shaved and every beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist is covered with sackcloth. |
38 On all the roofs in Moab and in the public squares there is nothing but mourning, for I have broken Moab like a jar that no one wants," declares the LORD. |
39 "How shattered she is! How they wail! How Moab turns her back in shame! Moab has become an object of ridicule, an object of horror to all those around her." |
40 This is what the LORD says: "Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab. |
41 Kerioth will be captured and the strongholds taken. In 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 nation because she defied the LORD. |
43 Terror and pit and snare await you, O people of Moab," declares the LORD. |
44 "Whoever flees from the terror will fall into a pit, whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare; for I will bring upon Moab the year of her punishment," declares the LORD. |
45 "In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand helpless, for a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a blaze from the midst of Sihon; it burns the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of the noisy boasters. |
46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed; your sons are taken into exile and your daughters into captivity. |
47 "Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come," declares the LORD. Here ends the judgment on Moab. |