Oracle of Judgment on Moab

• 15 An oracle of Moab:Because Ar is devastated in a night, Moab is destroyed;
  • because Kir of Moab is devastated in a night, it is destroyed.
  • 2 It has gone up to the house,[fn] and Dibon to the high places
• for weeping over Nebo,
  • and Moab wails over Medeba.
• Every head is bald ,[fn]
  • every beard is shaved.
  • 3 They gird themselves with sackcloth in its streets; on its roofs and public squares everyone wails,
    • going down in weeping.
  • 4 And Heshbon and Elealeh cry[fn] out, their voice is heard as far as Jahaz;
• therefore the armed ones of Moab cry out;
  • its soul quivers[fn] for him.
  • 5 My heart cries out for Moab; its fugitives flee up to Zoar,
  • to Eglath-shelishiyah.
• For at the ascent of Luhith it goes up it with weeping;
  • for on the road of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.
  • 6 For the waters of Nimrim are wastelands; for the grass has withered,
• the vegetation has vanished,
  • there is no greenness.
  • 7 Therefore they carry the abundance it has made and their store of goods over the river of the poplars.
  • 8 For a cry for help has encircled the territory of Moab, her wailing is heard as far as Eglaim,
  • and her wailing as far as Beer Elim.
  • 9 For the waters of Dimon[fn] are full of blood; but I will place added things upon Dimon:
• a lion for the survivors[fn] of Moab
  • and for the remnant of the land.
  • from Sela across the desert to the mountain of daughter Zion .[fn]
• 2 And this shall be:like a bird fleeing from a thrust away nest
  • shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon.
  • 3 “Bring counsel, make a decision;
• make your shade like the night
  • in the middle of noonday.
• Hide the outcasts;
  • you must not betray the fugitive.
  • 4 Let my outcasts of Moab dwell as aliens among you; be a hiding place for them from the presence of the destroyer.”
• When the oppressor is no more, destruction has stopped,
  • the one who tramples has[fn] disappeared from the land,
  • 5 then a throne shall be established in steadfast love, and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David,
• judging and seeking justice
  • and zealous for righteousness.
  • 6 We have heard of the pride of Moab—exceedingly proud— of his arrogance, pride, and insolence;his boasting is not true.[fn]
  • 7 Therefore Moab wails; all of it wails for Moab,
  • for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you moan, utterly devastated .[fn]
  • 8 For Heshbon withers the fields, the vine of Sibmah; rulers of nations have broken down her tendrils,
• they reached up to Jazer,
  • they wandered to the desert;
• her shoots spread abroad,
  • they crossed over the sea.
  • 9 Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I drench you with my tears,[fn] Heshbon and Elealeh,
    • for a jubilant shout has fallen over your summer fruit and harvest.
  • 10 And joy and gladness are[fn] taken away from the fruitful land, and in the vineyards no one exults,
• no one shouts for joy;
  • no treader treads wine in the presses;
  • I have put to an end to the jubilant shout.
  • 11 Therefore my heart moans[fn] like a harp for Moab and my inner parts for Kir-heres.
• 12 And this shall happen:when Moab appears, when it is weary upon the high place
  • and it comes to its sanctuary to pray, it will not prevail.

13 This was the word that Yahweh spoke to Moab in the past.[fn] 14 But now Yahweh speaks, saying, “In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will become contemptible, with all of the great multitude, and the remnant will be a few, small, not strong.