Jeremiah 48

¹Concerning Moab, thus says YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Woe to Nebo, for it is ruined! Kiriathaim has been put to shame; it has been captured; the fortress has been put to shame and shattered!

²There is no longer praise for Moab! In Heshbon they have devised against her evil: ‘Come, and let us cut her off from nationhood!’ Also, O Madmen, you will be silenced, after you will go the sword.

³A voice cries out from Horonaim: ‘Devastation and great destruction!’

⁴Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused to be heard a cry.

⁵For the ascent of Luhith with weeping, they ascend weeping; for on the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distressed cry of destruction.

⁶‘Flee, save your own soul! L become like a juniper in the desert.’

⁷For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also will be captured; and Chemosh will go forth into exile, his priests and his princes together.

⁸And the destroyer will come to every city, and not a city will escape; and the valley will perish, and the plain will be destroyed—as YHWH has said.

⁹Give wings to Moab, for she would fly away, and her cities will become as a desolation without one dwelling in them.

¹⁰Cursed is the one doing the work of YHWH slothfully, and cursed is the one withholding his sword from blood!

¹¹Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has been resting upon his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, and into exile he has not gone. Upon thus his taste in him stands, and his scent has not changed.

¹²Therefore, behold, the days are coming, a declaration of YHWH, when I will send to him those tipping over pots, and they will tip him over, and his vessels they will empty, and the bottles they will break.

¹³And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their source of trust.

¹⁴How can you say, ‘We are Mighty, and men of strength for battle’?

¹⁵Moab has been laid waste, and he has gone up from her cities, and the choicest of her young men go down to the slaughter, a declaration of the King, YHWH of Hosts is His name.

¹⁶The doom of Moab is near to coming, and his affliction has hurried quickly.

¹⁷Bemoan for him, all who surround him, and all who know his name, say, ‘How the staff of strength is broken—the rod of beauty!’

¹⁸Come down from your glory, and sit in thirst, O dweller of the daughter of Dibon; for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortifications!

¹⁹By the road stand and watch, O dweller of Aroer; ask of him fleeing and her escaping; Say, ‘What has happened?’

²⁰Moab is put to shame, for she has been shattered. Wail and cry out! Declare it in Arnon, that Moab has been laid waste.

²¹Judgment has come to the land of the plain—to Holon, and to Jahzah, and on Mephaath,

²²and on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth-diblathaim,

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

²⁴and on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, those far off and those nearby.

²⁵The horn of Moab has been cut off and his arm has been broken!” A declaration of YHWH.

²⁶“Make him drunk, because he has magnified himself against YHWH. And Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will be a laughingstock.

²⁷For did not Israel come to be for you a laughingstock? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you speak of him you shake your head about him?

²⁸Leave behind the cities and dwell in the rock, O dwellers of Moab, and become like the dove that nests in the sides of the mouth of a cave.

²⁹We have heard the pride of Moab—his exceeding pride—his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pridefulness, and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰I know,” a declaration of YHWH, “His insolence; his boasts are not trustworthy; his deeds are not trustworthy.

³¹Upon thus, over Moab I wail, and for Moab, all of him, I will cry out; for the men of Kir-Heres I will moan.

³²With the weeping of Jazer do I weep for you, O vine of Sibmah! Your tendrils have gone out over the sea, as far as Jazer they reach; upon your summer fruit and upon your vintage the destroyer has fallen.

³³Gladness and rejoicing are gathered up from the fertile field, and from the land of Moab; the wine from the winepresses I have made to cease; no one treads them with shouts of joy—the shout is not a shout.

³⁴From the outcry of Heshbon unto Elealeh, and unto Jahaz, they have given forth their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim, and Eglath-Shelishiyah; for also the waters of Nimrim have become desolations.

³⁵And I will make cease in Moab,” a declaration of YHWH, “The one bringing up in the high places, and burning incense to his gods.

³⁶Upon thus My heart wails for Moab like flutes, and My heart wails for the men of Kir-Heres like flutes. Upon thus the wealth they have acquired has perished.

³⁷For every head is bald, and every beard is diminished; on all the hands are cuts, and upon the loins is sackcloth.

³⁸On all the housetops of Moab, and in her streets, everywhere is lamentation; for I have broken Moab like a vessel without delight in it,” a declaration of YHWH.

³⁹“How she is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned her neck having been put to shame! Moab has become a derision and for a horror to all those around her.”

⁴⁰For thus says YHWH: “Behold, like an eagle he flies and spreads his wings against Moab.

⁴¹Kerioth is captured, and the strongholds are caught, and the heart of the mighty ones of Moab will be on that day like the heart of a woman in labor.

⁴²And Moab will be destroyed as a nation, because he has magnified himself against YHWH.

⁴³Terror and pit and snare are upon you, O inhabitant of Moab!” A declaration of YHWH.

⁴⁴“The one who flees from the terror will fall into the pit, and the one coming up from the pit will be caught in the snare; for I will bring upon her, upon Moab, the year of their punishment!” A declaration of YHWH.

⁴⁵“In the shadow of Heshbon stand those fleeing powerless; for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and it devours the forehead of Moab and the crown of the sons of tumult.

⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished, for your sons have been taken into captivity, and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷And I will turn back the captivity of Moab in the latter days,” a declaration of YHWH. As far as here is the judgment of Moab.