| 1 | Concerning Moab: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe to [the city of] Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is put to shame and taken; Misgab [the high fortress] is put to shame, broken down,
and
crushed. |
| 2 | The glory of Moab is no more; in Heshbon [a border town between Reuben and Gad, east of the Jordan River] they planned evil against her, saying, Come, let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, O [town of] Madmen, shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue you. |
| 3 | The sound of a cry from Horonaim, [a cry of] desolation and great destruction! |
| 4 | Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard [as far as Zoar]. |
| 5 | For the ascent of Luhith will be climbed [by successive bands of fugitives] with continual weeping; for on the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction. |
| 6 | Flee! Save your lives! But they shall be like a destitute
and
forsaken person in the wilderness. |
| 7 | For because you have trusted in your works [your bungling idol images] and in your treasures [instead of in God], you shall also be taken. And Chemosh [your god] shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together. |
| 8 | And the destroyer shall come upon every city; no city shall escape. The [Jordan] valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be devastated, as the Lord has said. |
| 9 | Give wings to Moab, for [by that means only] she will flee and get away; her cities will be desolate, without any to dwell in them. |
| 10 | Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord negligently [with slackness, deceitfully]; and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood [in executing judgment pronounced by the Lord]. |
| 11 | Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees [like wine] and has not been drawn off from one vessel to another, neither has he gone into exile. Therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent has not changed. |
| 12 | Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall send to [Moab] tilters who shall tilt him up and shall empty his vessels and break his bottles (earthenware) in pieces. |
| 13 | And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh [his god], as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. |
| 14 | How can you say, We are heroes and mighty men in the war? |
| 15 | Moab has been made desolate, and his cities have gone up [in smoke and flame]; and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King, Whose name is the Lord of hosts. |
| 16 | The destruction of Moab is coming near, and his calamity hastens swiftly. |
| 17 | Bemoan him, all you [nations] who are around him, and all you [nations more remote] who know his name; say, How broken is the mighty scepter [of national power] and the splendid rod [of glory]! |
| 18 | Come down from your glory, you inhabitant of the Daughter of
[a]Dibon, and sit on the ground among the thirsty! For the destroyer of Moab is advancing against you; he will destroy your strongholds. |
| 19 | O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch! Ask him who flees and her who escapes, What has happened? |
| 20 | Moab is put to shame, for she is broken down. Wail and cry out! Tell by [the banks of] the Arnon that Moab is laid waste (destroyed). |
| 21 | Judgment has come upon the land of the plain—upon Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath, |
| 22 | And upon Dibon and Nebo and Beth-diblathaim, |
| 23 | And upon Kiriathaim and Beth-gamul and Beth-meon, |
| 24 | And upon Kerioth and Bozrah—and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. |
| 25 | The horn (strength) of Moab is cut off, and his arm [of authority] is shattered, says the Lord. |
| 26 | Make him drunk, for he has magnified himself against the Lord [by resisting Reuben’s occupation of the land the Lord had assigned him]. Moab also shall splash in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. |
| 27 | For was not Israel [an object of] derision to you? Was he found among thieves—since whenever you speak of him you wag your head [in scorn]? |
| 28 | O you inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities and dwell among the rocks, and be like the dove that makes her nest in the walls of the yawning ravine. |
| 29 | We have heard of the [giddy] pride of Moab, the extremely proud one—his loftiness, his arrogance, his conceit, and the haughtiness of his heart. |
| 30 | I know his insolent wrath, says the Lord, and the nothingness of his boastings
and
his deeds; they are false
and
have accomplished nothing. |
| 31 | Therefore I will wail over Moab, and I will cry out over the whole of Moab. Over the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth) there will be sighing
and
mourning. |
| 32 | O vines of Sibmah, I weep for you more than the weeping of Jazer [over its ruins and wasted vineyards]. Your tendrils [of influence] have gone over the sea, reaching even to Jazer. The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruit harvest and your [season’s] crop of grapes. |
| 33 | Joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful orchards
and
fields and from the land of Moab. And I have made the juice [of the grape] to fail from what is pressed out in the vats; no one treads [the grapes] with shouting. Their shouting is no shouting [of joy, but is a battle cry]. |
| 34 | From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah [like a three-year-old heifer], for even the waters of Nimrim have become desolations. |
| 35 | Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab, says the Lord, the one who ascends
and
offers in the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods. |
| 36 | Therefore My heart moans
and
sighs for Moab like flutes, and My heart moans
and
sighs like flutes for the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth); therefore [the remnant of] the abundant riches they gained has perished. |
| 37 | For every head is shaven bald and every beard cut off: upon all the hands are cuts (slashes) and upon the loins is sackcloth [all to express mourning]. |
| 38 | On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere, for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which there is no pleasure, says the Lord. |
| 39 | How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become [an object of] a derision and a [horrifying] terror to all who are round about him. |
| 40 | For thus says the Lord: Behold, he [Babylon] shall fly swiftly like an eagle and shall spread out his wings against Moab. |
| 41 | Kerioth [and the cities] shall be taken and the strongholds seized; and the hearts of the mighty warriors of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs [in childbirth]. |
| 42 | And Moab shall be
[b]destroyed from being a nation, because he has magnified himself against the Lord. |
| 43 | Terror and pit and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab, says the Lord. |
| 44 | He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit, and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken
and
caught in the trap
or
snare; for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation (their inspection and infliction of punishment), says the Lord. |
| 45 | In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand powerless (stopped in their tracks, helpless and without strength), for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon; it has destroyed the corner of Moab and the crowns of the heads of the ones in tumult [the proud Moabites]. |
| 46 | Woe to you, O Moab! The people of [the god] Chemosh
are
undone; for your sons are taken away captive and your daughters into captivity. |
| 47 | Yet will I reverse the captivity
and
[c]restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, says the Lord. Thus far is the judgment on Moab. |
Cross references:
-
Jeremiah 48:1 : Isa. 15-16; 25:10-12; Ezek. 25:8-11; Amos 2:1-3; Zeph. 2:8-11.
-
Jeremiah 48:13 : I Kings 12:28, 29.
-
Jeremiah 48:26 : Num. 22:1-7.
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Jeremiah 48:31 : Isa. 15:1; 16:7, 11.
-
Jeremiah 48:37 : Isa. 15:2, 3.
-
Jeremiah 48:40 : Ezek. 17:3.
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Jeremiah 48:43 : Isa. 24:7.
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