Chapter
48
Of Moab. Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo! for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is disappointed, it is taken; Misgab is put to shame and broken down.
The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against him: Come, and let us cut him off from being a nation. You also, Madmen, shall be brought to silence: the sword shall pursue you.
The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction!
Moab is destroyed; his little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.
Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also shall be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, her priests and her princesses together.
The destroyer shall come on every city, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; as Yahweh has spoken.
Give wings to Moab, that he may fly and get him away: and his cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein.
Cursed be she who does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed be she who keeps back her sword from blood.
Moab has been at ease from her youth, and she has settled on her lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has she gone into captivity: therefore her taste remains in her, and her scent is not changed.
Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will send to her those who pour off, and they shall pour her off; and they shall empty her vessels, and break their bottles in pieces.
Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.
How say you, We are mighty women, and valiant women for the war?
Moab is laid waste, and they are gone up into her cities, and her chosen young women are gone down to the slaughter, says the Queen, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.
The calamity of Moab is near to come, and her affliction hurries fast.
All you who are round about her, bemoan her, and all you who know her name; say, How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod!
You son who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab is come up against you, she has destroyed your strongholds.
Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch: ask her who flees, and him who escapes; say, What has been done?
Moab is disappointed; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell you it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.
Judgment is come on the plain country, on Holon, and on Jahzah, and on Mephaath,
and on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth Diblathaim,
and on Kiriathaim, and on Beth Gamul, and on Beth Meon,
and on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
The horn of Moab is cut off, and her arm is broken, says Yahweh.
Make you her drunken; for she magnified herself against Yahweh: and Moab shall wallow in her vomit, and she also shall be in derision.
For wasn't Israel a derision to you? was she found among thieves? for as often as you speak of her, you wag the head.
You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be like the dove that makes his nest over the mouth of the abyss.
We have heard of the pride of Moab, that she is very proud; her loftiness, and her pride, and her arrogance, and the haughtiness of her heart.
I know her wrath, says Yahweh, that it is nothing; her boastings have worked nothing.
Therefore will I wail for Moab; yes, I will cry out for all Moab: for the women of Kir Heres shall they mourn.
With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for you, vine of Sibmah: your branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer: on your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer is fallen.
Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses: none shall tread with shouting; the shouting shall be no shouting.
From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolate.
Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says Yahweh, her who offers in the high place, and her who burns incense to her gods.
Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the women of Kir Heres: therefore the abundance that she has gotten is perished.
For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the waist sackcloth.
On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets of it there is lamentation every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which none delights, says Yahweh.
How is it broken down! how do they wail! how has Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are round about her.
For thus says Yahweh: Behold, she shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out her wings against Moab.
Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty women of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a man in his pangs.
Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because she has magnified herself against Yahweh.
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are on you, inhabitant of Moab, says Yahweh.
She who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and she who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring on her, even on Moab, the year of their visitation, says Yahweh.
Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
Woe to you, O Moab! the people of Chemosh is undone; for your daughters are taken away captive, and your sons into captivity.
Yet will I bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says Yahweh. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.