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.
  
  
• 16 Send a ram[fn] to the ruler 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.