Jeremiah 48

¹ Concerning Moab, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo, it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is disgraced and captured, Disgraced and overthrown is the stronghold:

² Moab's glory is no more. Evil they plan against Heshbon: "Come, let us put an end to her as a people." You, too, Madmen, shall be reduced to silence; behind you stalks the sword.

³ Listen! a cry from Horonaim of ruin and great destruction!

⁴ Moab is crushed, their outcry is heard in Zoar.

⁵ The ascent of Luhith they climb weeping; On the descent to Horonaim the cry of destruction is heard.

⁶ "Flee, save your lives, to survive like the wild ass in the desert!"

⁷ Because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be captured. Chemosh shall go into exile, his priests and princes with him.

⁸ The destroyer comes upon every city, not a city escapes; Ruined is the valley, wasted the plain, as the LORD has said.

⁹ Set up a memorial for Moab, for it is an utter wasteland; Its cities are turned into ruins where no one dwells.

¹⁰ (Cursed be he who does the LORD'S work remissly, cursed he who holds back his sword from blood.)

¹¹ Moab has been tranquil from his youth, has rested upon his lees; He was not poured from one flask to another, he went not into exile. Thus he kept his taste, and his scent was not lost.

¹² Hence, the days shall come, says the LORD, when I will send him coopers to turn him over; they shall empty his flasks and break his jars.

¹³ Chemosh shall disappoint Moab, as Israel was disappointed by Bethel in which they trusted.

¹⁴ How can you say, "We are heroes, men valiant in war"?

¹⁵ The ravager of Moab and his cities advances, the flower of his youth goes down to be slaughtered, says the King, the LORD of hosts by name.

¹⁶ Near at hand is Moab's ruin, his disaster hastens apace.

¹⁷ Mourn for him, all you his neighbors, all you who knew him well! Say: How the strong staff is broken, the glorious rod!

¹⁸ Come down from glory, sit on the ground, you that dwell in Dibon; Moab's ravager has come up against you, he has ruined your strongholds.

¹⁹ Stand by the wayside, watch closely, you that dwell in Aroer; Ask the man who flees, the woman who tries to escape: say to them, "What has happened?"

²⁰ Moab is disgraced, yes, destroyed, howl and cry out; Publish it at the Arnon, Moab is ruined!

²¹ For judgment has come on the land of the plateau: on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,

²² on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

²³ on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,

²⁴ on Kerioth and on Bozrah: on all the cities of Moab, far and near.

²⁵ Moab's strength is broken, his might is shattered, says the LORD.

²⁶ Because he boasted against the LORD, make Moab drunk so that he retches and vomits, and he too becomes a laughingstock.

²⁷ Is Israel a laughingstock to you? Was she caught among thieves, that you shake your head whenever you speak of her?

²⁸ Leave the cities, dwell in the crags, you that dwell in Moab. Be like a dove that nests out of reach on the edge of a chasm.

²⁹ We have heard of the pride of Moab, pride beyond bounds: His loftiness, his pride, his scorn, his insolence of heart.

³⁰ I know, says the LORD, his arrogance; liar in boast, liar in deed.

³¹ And so I wail over Moab, over all Moab I cry, over the men of Kir-heres I moan.

³² More than for Jazer I weep over you, vineyard of Sibmah. Your tendrils trailed down to the sea, as far as Jazer they stretched. Upon your harvest, upon your vintage, the ravager has fallen.

³³ Joy and jubilation are at an end in the fruit gardens of the land of Moab. I drain the wine from the wine vats, the treader treads no more, the vintage shout is stilled.

³⁴ The cry of Heshbon and Elealeh is heard as far as Jahaz; they call from Zoar to Horonaim, and to Eglath-shelishiyah, for even the waters of Nimrim turn into a desert.

³⁵ I will leave no one in Moab, says the LORD, to offer a holocaust on the high place, or to burn incense to his gods.

³⁶ Hence the wail of flutes for Moab is in my heart; for the men of Kir-heres the wail of flutes is in my heart: the wealth they acquired has perished.

³⁷ Every head has been made bald, every beard shaved; every hand is gashed, and the loins of all are clothed in sackcloth.

³⁸ On every roof of Moab and in all his squares there is mourning; I have shattered Moab like a pot that no one wants, says the LORD.

³⁹ How terror seizes Moab, and wailing! How he turns his back in shame! Moab has become a laughingstock and a horror to all his neighbors!

⁴⁰ For thus says the LORD: Behold, like an eagle he soars, spreads his wings over Moab.

⁴¹ Cities are taken, strongholds seized: On that day the hearts of Moab's heroes are like the heart of a woman in travail.

⁴² Moab shall be destroyed, no more a people, because he boasted against the LORD.

⁴³ Terror, pit, and trap be upon you, people of Moab, says the LORD.

⁴⁴ He who flees from the terror falls into the pit; He who climbs from the pit is caught in the trap; For I will bring these things upon Moab in the year of their punishment, says the LORD.

⁴⁵ In Heshbon's shadow stop short the exhausted refugees; For fire breaks forth from Heshbon, and a blaze from the house of Sihon: It consumes the brow of Moab, the skull of the noisemakers.

⁴⁶ Woe to you, O Moab, you are ruined, O people of Chemosh! Your sons are taken into exile, your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷ But I will change the lot of Moab in the days to come, says the LORD. Thus far the judgment on Moab.