¹Send lambs to the ruler of the land,[#16.1 Heb uncertain]

from Sela through the desert

to the mountain of Daughter Zion.

²The daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon are like orphaned birds pushed from the nest.

³Consider carefully, act justly;

at high noon provide your shade like night.

Hide the outcasts;

keep the fugitives hidden.

⁴Let the outcasts of Moab live among you.

Be a hiding place for them from the destroyer.

When the oppressor is no more,

when destruction has ceased,

when the trampler has vanished from the land,

⁵a throne will be established based on goodness,

a judge who seeks justice and timely righteousness.

⁶We have heard of Moab’s pride,

his great pride,

his outrageous pride and arrogance,

his empty boasting.

⁷Therefore, let Moab wail;

let everyone wail for Moab.

Let them moan, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.

⁸The fields of Heshbon languish.

The vines of Sibmah,

had reached as far as Jazer and strayed to the desert.

Their tendrils spread out and crossed the sea.

⁹Therefore, I will weep with Jazer’s weeping for the vines of Sibmah.

I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh.

Cheers have fallen silent concerning your summer fruit and your grain harvest.

¹⁰Joy and happiness have been harvested from the farmland,

and in the vineyards no one sings, no one shouts.

No treader crushes grapes in the wine vats;

I have brought the cheers to an end.

¹¹Therefore, my heart plays sadly like a harp for Moab,

my inner being for Kir-heres.

¹²Even if Moab presents himself,

and Moab wears himself out going to the shrine,

and comes to his sanctuary to pray,

¹³This is the word that the LORD had spoken concerning Moab long ago.

¹⁴But now the LORD has said: In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab, with all its great multitude, will dwindle. The small remnant will be few and feeble.