Jeremiah 48 / 52
- 1Concerning 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.
- 2Moab 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.
- 3Listen to the cries from Horonaim, cries of great havoc and destruction.
- 4Moab will be broken; her little ones will cry out.
- 5They go up the way to Luhith, weeping bitterly as they go; on the road down to Horonaim anguished cries over the destruction are heard.
- 6Flee! Run for your lives; become like a bush in the desert.
- 7Since 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.
- 8The 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.
- 9Put 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.
- 12But 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.
- 13Then 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'?
- 15Moab 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.
- 17Mourn 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.
- 19Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, ask them, 'What has happened?'
- 20Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered. Wail and cry out! Announce by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.
- 21Judgment has come to the plateau- to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath,
- 22to Dibon, Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,
- 23to Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,
- 24to Kerioth and Bozrah- to all the towns of Moab, far and near.
- 25Moab'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.
- 27Was not Israel the object of your ridicule? Was she caught among thieves, that you shake your head in scorn whenever you speak of her?
- 28Abandon 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.
- 30I know her insolence but it is futile," declares the LORD , "and her boasts accomplish nothing.
- 31Therefore I wail over Moab, for all Moab I cry out, I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth.
- 32I 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.
- 33Joy 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.
- 35In 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.
- 37Every head is shaved and every beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist is covered with sackcloth.
- 38On 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."
- 40This is what the LORD says: "Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab.
- 41Kerioth 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.
- 42Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the LORD .
- 43Terror 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.
- 46Woe 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.