Jeremiah 48
- 1
- Concerning Moab: This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold [1] will be disgraced and shattered.
- 2
- Moab will be praised no more; in Heshbon [2] men will plot her downfall: `Come, let us put an end to that nation.' You too, O Madmen, [3] will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.
- 3
- Listen to the cries from Horonaim, cries of great havoc and destruction.
- 4
- Moab will be broken; her little ones will cry out. [4]
- 5
- They go up the way to Luhith, weeping bitterly as they go; on the road down to Horonaim anguished cries over the destruction are heard.
- 6
- Flee! Run for your lives; become like a bush [5] in the desert.
- 7
- Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.
- 8
- The destroyer will come against every town, and not a town will escape. The valley will be ruined and the plateau destroyed, because the LORD has spoken.
- 9
- Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste [6] ; her towns will become desolate, with no one to live in them.
- 10
- "A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD's work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!
- 11
- "Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another-- she has not gone into exile. So she tastes as she did, and her aroma is unchanged.
- 12
- But days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will send men who pour from jars, and they will pour her out; they will empty her jars and smash her jugs.
- 13
- Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.
- 14
- "How can you say, `We are warriors, men valiant in battle'?
- 15
- Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded; her finest young men will go down in the slaughter," declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.
- 16
- "The fall of Moab is at hand; her calamity will come quickly.
- 17
- Mourn for her, all who live around her, all who know her fame; say, `How broken is the mighty scepter, how broken the glorious staff!'
- 18
- "Come down from your glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitants of the Daughter of Dibon, for he who destroys Moab will come up against you and ruin your fortified cities.
- 19
- Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, ask them, `What has happened?'
- 20
- Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered. Wail and cry out! Announce by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.
- 21
- Judgment has come to the plateau-- to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath,
- 22
- to Dibon, Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,
- 23
- to Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,
- 24
- to Kerioth and Bozrah-- to all the towns of Moab, far and near.
- 25
- Moab's horn [7] is cut off; her arm is broken," declares the LORD.
- 26
- "Make her drunk, for she has defied the LORD. Let Moab wallow in her vomit; let her be an object of ridicule.
- 27
- Was not Israel the object of your ridicule? Was she caught among thieves, that you shake your head in scorn whenever you speak of her?
- 28
- Abandon your towns and dwell among the rocks, you who live in Moab. Be like a dove that makes its nest at the mouth of a cave.
- 29
- "We have heard of Moab's pride-- her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart.
- 30
- I know her insolence but it is futile," declares the LORD, "and her boasts accomplish nothing.
- 31
- Therefore I wail over Moab, for all Moab I cry out, I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth.
- 32
- I weep for you, as Jazer weeps, O vines of Sibmah. Your branches spread as far as the sea; they reached as far as the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your ripened fruit and grapes.
- 33
- Joy and gladness are gone from the orchards and fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy. Although there are shouts, they are not shouts of joy.
- 34
- "The sound of their cry rises from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah, for even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.
- 35
- In Moab I will put an end to those who make offerings on the high places and burn incense to their gods," declares the LORD.
- 36
- "So my heart laments for Moab like a flute; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir Hareseth. The wealth they acquired is gone.
- 37
- Every head is shaved and every beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist is covered with sackcloth.
- 38
- On all the roofs in Moab and in the public squares there is nothing but mourning, for I have broken Moab like a jar that no one wants," declares the LORD.
- 39
- "How shattered she is! How they wail! How Moab turns her back in shame! Moab has become an object of ridicule, an object of horror to all those around her."
- 40
- This is what the LORD says: "Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab.
- 41
- Kerioth [8] will be captured and the strongholds taken. In that day the hearts of Moab's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
- 42
- Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the LORD.
- 43
- Terror and pit and snare await you, O people of Moab," declares the LORD.
- 44
- "Whoever flees from the terror will fall into a pit, whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare; for I will bring upon Moab the year of her punishment," declares the LORD.
- 45
- "In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand helpless, for a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a blaze from the midst of Sihon; it burns the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of the noisy boasters.
- 46
- Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed; your sons are taken into exile and your daughters into captivity.
- 47
- "Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come," declares the LORD. Here ends the judgment on Moab.
- [1] Or / Misgab
- [2] The Hebrew for Heshbon sounds like the Hebrew for plot.
- [2] The name of the Moabite town Madmen sounds like the Hebrew for be silenced.
- [4] Hebrew; Septuagint / proclaim it to Zoar
- [6] Or like Aroer
- [9] Or Give wings to Moab, / for she will fly away
- [25] Horn here symbolizes strength.
- [41] Or The cities
)