Jeremiah 48

¹Concerning Moab.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste!

Kiriathaʹim is put to shame, it is taken;

the fortress is put to shame and broken down;

²the renown of Moab is no more.

In Heshbon they planned evil against her:

‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’

You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;

the sword shall pursue you.

³“Hark! a cry from Horonaʹim,

‘Desolation and great destruction!’

⁴Moab is destroyed;

a cry is heard as far as Zoʹar.

⁵For at the ascent of Luhith

they go up weeping;

for at the descent of Horonaʹim

they have heard the cry of destruction.

⁶Flee! Save yourselves!

Be like a wild ass in the desert!

⁷For, because you trusted in your strongholds and your treasures,

you also shall be taken;

and Chemosh shall go forth into exile,

with his priests and his princes.

⁸The destroyer shall come upon every city,

and no city shall escape;

the valley shall perish,

and the plain shall be destroyed,

as the Lord has spoken.

⁹“Give wings to Moab,

for she would fly away;

her cities shall become a desolation,

with no inhabitant in them.

¹⁰“Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

¹¹“Moab has been at ease from his youth

and has settled on his lees;

he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,

nor has he gone into exile;

so his taste remains in him,

and his scent is not changed.

¹²“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall send to him tilters who will tilt him, and empty his vessels, and break his jars in pieces. ¹³Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

¹⁴“How do you say, ‘We are heroes

and mighty men of war’?

¹⁵The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up,

and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,

says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near at hand

and his affliction hastens apace.

¹⁷Bemoan him, all you who are round about him,

and all who know his name;

say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken,

the glorious staff.’

¹⁸“Come down from your glory,

and sit on the parched ground,

O inhabitant of Dibon!

For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;

he has destroyed your strongholds.

¹⁹Stand by the way and watch,

O inhabitant of Aroʹer!

Ask him who flees and her who escapes;

say, ‘What has happened?’

²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;

wail and cry!

Tell it by the Arnon,

that Moab is laid waste.

²¹“Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephʹa-ath, ²²and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaʹim, ²³and Kiriathaʹim, and Beth-gaʹmul, and Beth-meʹon, ²⁴and Kerʹi-oth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. ²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the Lord.

²⁶“Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the Lord; so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. ²⁷Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?

²⁸“Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,

O inhabitants of Moab!

Be like the dove that nests

in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.

²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab—

he is very proud—

of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,

and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰I know his insolence, says the Lord;

his boasts are false,

his deeds are false.

³¹Therefore I wail for Moab;

I cry out for all Moab;

for the men of Kir-heʹres I mourn.

³²More than for Jazer I weep for you,

O vine of Sibmah!

Your branches passed over the sea,

reached as far as Jazer;

upon your summer fruits and your vintage

the destroyer has fallen.

³³Gladness and joy have been taken away

from the fruitful land of Moab;

I have made the wine cease from the wine presses;

no one treads them with shouts of joy;

the shouting is not the shout of joy.

³⁴“Heshbon and Ele-aʹleh cry out; as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoʹar to Horonaʹim and Egʹlath-shelishʹiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate. ³⁵And I will bring to an end in Moab, says the Lord, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and burns incense to his god. ³⁶Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-heʹres; therefore the riches they gained have perished.

³⁷“For every head is shaved and every beard cut off; upon all the hands are gashes, and on the loins is sackcloth. ³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation; for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, says the Lord. ³⁹How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are round about him.”

⁴⁰For thus says the Lord:

“Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle,

and spread his wings against Moab;

⁴¹the cities shall be taken

and the strongholds seized.

The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day

like the heart of a woman in her pangs;

⁴²Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people,

because he magnified himself against the Lord.

⁴³Terror, pit, and snare

are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!

says the Lord.

⁴⁴He who flees from the terror

shall fall into the pit,

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For I will bring these things upon Moab

in the year of their punishment,

says the Lord.

⁴⁵“In the shadow of Heshbon

fugitives stop without strength;

for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon,

a flame from the house of Sihon;

it has destroyed the forehead of Moab,

the crown of the sons of tumult.

⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab!

The people of Chemosh is undone;

for your sons have been taken captive,

and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab

in the latter days, says the Lord.”

Thus far is the judgment on Moab.