Prophecies against Moab

¹About Moab, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says:[#48:1 Gn 19:37; Nm 22:1; 24:17; 25:1; Dt 23:3; 34:5–6; Jdg 3:30; Ru 1:2; 2Sm 8:2; 1Kg 11:7; 2Kg 1:1; Is 15:1; Ezk 25:8–11; Am 2:1–2; Zph 2:8–9]

Woe to Nebo, because it is about to be destroyed;

Kiriathaim will be put to shame; it will be taken captive.

The fortress will be put to shame and dismayed!

²There is no longer praise for Moab;

they plan harm against her in Heshbon:

Come, let’s cut her off from nationhood.

Also, Madmen, you will be silenced;

the sword will follow you.

³A voice cries out from Horonaim,[#48:3 Is 15:5; Jr 48:34]

‘devastation and a crushing blow! ’

⁴Moab will be shattered;

her little ones will cry out.

⁵For on the Ascent to Luhith

they will be weeping continually,

and on the descent to Horonaim

will be heard cries of distress over the destruction:

⁶Flee! Save your lives![#48:6 Jr 51:6,45]

Be like a juniper bush , in the wilderness.

⁷Because you trust in your works and treasures,

you will be captured also.

Chemosh will go into exile

with his priests and officials.

⁸The destroyer will move against every town;[#48:8 Jr 6:26; 48:15,18,32]

not one town will escape.

The valley will perish,

and the plain will be annihilated,

as the Lord has said.

⁹Make Moab a salt marsh, ,[#48:9 LXX reads a sign ; Vg reads a flower ; Syr, Tg read a crown; #48:9 Jdg 9:45; Jr 17:6; Ezk 47:11; Zph 2:9]

for she will run away;

her towns will become a desolation,

without inhabitant.

¹⁰The one who does

the Lord ’s business deceitfully is cursed,

and the one who withholds

his sword from bloodshed is cursed.

¹¹Moab has been left quiet since his youth,

settled like wine on its dregs.

He hasn’t been poured from one container to another

or gone into exile.

So his taste has remained the same,

and his aroma hasn’t changed.

¹²Therefore look, the days are coming –[#48:12 Jr 7:32; 16:14; 19:6; 23:7; 49:2; 51:47,52]

when I will send pourers to him, who will pour him out.

They will empty his containers

and smash his jars.

¹³Moab will be put to shame because of Chemosh,

just as the house of Israel was put to shame

because of Bethel that they trusted in.

¹⁴How can you say, ‘We are warriors –

valiant men for battle’?

¹⁵The destroyer of Moab and its towns

has come up,

and the best of its young men

have gone down to slaughter.

¹⁶Moab’s calamity is near at hand;

his disaster is rushing swiftly.

¹⁷Mourn for him, all you surrounding nations,

everyone who knows his name.

Say, ‘How the mighty sceptre is shattered,

the glorious staff! ’

¹⁸Come down from glory; sit on parched ground,

resident of the daughter of Dibon,

for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;

he has destroyed your fortresses.

¹⁹Stand by the road and watch,

resident of Aroer!

Ask him who is fleeing or her who is escaping,

‘What happened? ’

²⁰Moab is put to shame, indeed dismayed.

Wail and cry out!

Declare by the Arnon

that Moab is destroyed.

²¹‘Judgement has come to the land of the plateau #– #to Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath,[#48:21 Jos 13:17–19]

²²Dibon, Nebo, Beth-diblathaim,

²³Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, Beth-meon,[#48:23 Jos 13:17]

²⁴Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, those far and near.[#48:24 Jr 48:41; Am 2:2]

²⁵Moab’s horn is chopped off; his arm is shattered.’[#48:25 Ps 75:10; Lm 2:3; Am 3:14; #48:25 Jb 38:15; Ps 10:15; 37:17; Ezk 30:21–24]

²⁶‘Make him drunk, because he has exalted himself against the Lord . Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughing-stock.[#48:26 Jr 48:42]

²⁷Wasn’t Israel a laughing-stock to you? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.’[#48:26–27 Gn 38:23; Jb 12:4; Ps 44:14; Jr 20:7; 48:39; Lm 2:15–17; 3:14; #48:27 Jr 2:26; #48:27 2Kg 19:21; Jb 2:11; 16:4; 42:11; Ps 22:7; 64:8; 69:20; 109:25; Is 37:22; 51:19; Jr 15:5; 18:16; Lm 2:15; Nah 3:7]

²⁸Abandon the towns! Live in the cliffs,

residents of Moab!

Be like a dove

that nests inside the mouth of a cave.

²⁹We have heard of Moab’s pride,

great pride, indeed –

his insolence, arrogance, pride,

and haughty heart.

³⁰I know his outburst.

It is empty.

His boast is empty.

³¹Therefore, I will wail over Moab.

I will cry out for Moab, all of it;

he will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

³²I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah,

with more than the weeping for Jazer.

Your tendrils have extended to the sea;

they have reached to the sea and to Jazer.

The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit and grape harvest.

³³Gladness and celebration are taken from the fertile field

and from the land of Moab.

I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses;

no one will tread with shouts of joy.

The shouting is not a shout of joy.

³⁴‘There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they make their voices heard as far as Jahaz #– #from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah #– #because even the Waters of Nimrim have become desolate.[#48:34 Is 15:4–6]

³⁵In Moab, I will stop’ #– #this is the Lord ’s declaration #– #‘the one who offers sacrifices on the high place and burns incense to his gods.[#48:35 Jr 11:12–13; 18:15]

³⁶Therefore, my heart moans like flutes for Moab, and my heart moans like flutes for the people of Kir-heres. And therefore, the wealth he has gained has perished.[#48:36 Is 15:5]

³⁷Indeed, every head is bald and every beard is chopped short. On every hand is a gash and sackcloth round the waist.[#48:37–38 Is 15:2–3; Jr 47:5; #48:37 Lv 19:28; 21:5; Jr 5:7; 41:5; 47:5; #48:37 Jr 4:8; 6:26; 49:3]

³⁸On all the rooftops of Moab and in her public squares, everyone is mourning because I have shattered Moab like a jar no one wants.’ This is the Lord ’s declaration.[#48:38 Jr 22:28]

³⁹‘How broken it is! They wail! How Moab has turned his back! He is ashamed. Moab will become a laughing-stock and a shock to all those around him.’[#48:29–39 Is 16:6–11; Zph 2:9–10]

⁴⁰For this is what the Lord says:

Look! He will swoop down like an eagle

and spread his wings against Moab.

⁴¹The towns have been captured,[#48:41 Or Kerioth has]

and the strongholds seized.

In that day the heart of Moab’s warriors

will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.

⁴²Moab will be destroyed as a people

because he has exalted himself against the Lord .

⁴³Panic, pit, and trap[#48:43 Jr 30:5; 49:5]

await you, resident of Moab.

⁴⁴He who flees from the panic will fall in the pit,

and he who climbs from the pit

will be captured in the trap,

for I will bring against Moab

the year of their punishment.

⁴⁵Those who flee will stand exhausted in Heshbon’s shadow

because fire has come out from Heshbon

and a flame from within Sihon.

It will devour Moab’s forehead

and the skull of the noisemakers.

⁴⁶Woe to you, Moab!

The people of Chemosh have perished

because your sons have been taken captive

and your daughters have gone into captivity.

⁴⁷Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the last days.[#48:47 Or will end the captivity; #48:47 Jr 49:6,39]

The judgement on Moab ends here.