The Lord’s Judgment of Moab

¹Here is a prophecy concerning Moab:[#15:1 Moab (“seed of the father”) was a descendant of Lot conceived out of incest with Lot’s daughter (see Gen. 19:31–37). The Moabites settled in a region east of the Dead Sea. This chapter shows the heart of the prophet Isaiah as he is painfully grieved over the sorrows coming to Moab. Ruth, a Moabite, had a role in forming the house of David, for she was his great-grandmother (see Ruth 4:17–21).]

The city of Ar was devastated, destroyed in the night.

The city of Kir was devastated, destroyed in the night.

²The people of Dibon went to their temple to weep;[#15:2 Dibon means “wasting.” Dibon is present-day Dhiban, Jordan.]

they went up to their high places to lament.

Moab wails with sorrow over what happened

to Mount Nebo and Mount Medeba.

Humiliated , every head is shaved bald and every beard cut off.

³They pour into the streets wearing sackcloth.

In public and in private, they fall down sobbing.

⁴The cities of Heshbon and Elealah cry out;[#15:4 Heshbon means “intelligence” or “human reasoning.”; #15:4 Elealeh means “ascent of God” or “God has ascended.”]

their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz;

even the bravest warriors of Moab are shaken to the core.

⁵My heart cries out for the people of Moab,

for her fugitives who flee to Zoar and to Eglath-shelishiyah.

Weeping, they climb the upward road to Luhith.

Their loud cries of anguish are heard

all along the way to Horonaim.

⁶The River Nimrim has dried up; the grass has withered;[#15:6 Nimrim means “clear waters.” Possibly present-day Wadi Numeira.]

new growth has failed, and vegetation has vanished.

⁷Therefore, the refugees take with them

over the Wadi of the Willows

their possessions and the wealth they have acquired.

⁸From one end of the land to the other, Moab is weeping;

her wailing reaches to Eglaim and Beer-Elim.

⁹For the waters of Dimon are full of blood,[#15:9 Some manuscripts have “Dibon.” Dimon means “consumed.”]

but I have something even worse in store for them:

lions for the fugitives of Moab

and upon the remnant of the land!