Jeremiah 48

48 ¹ Concerning Moab. Thus says the Father of heaven's armies, our Father of Israel: "Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is put to shame and captured; the fortress is put to shame and shattered."

² The renown of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they plotted disaster against her: "Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!" You also, O Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you. ^a a v2 The city name Heshbon sounds like "they plotted" — a deliberate play: the place becomes the scene of the very scheming it is named for.

³ A voice! A cry from Horonaim: "Devastation and great destruction!" ⁴ Moab is broken; her little ones have raised a cry. ⁵ For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping bitterly; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distressing cry of destruction. ⁶ Flee! Save your lives, and become like a juniper in the wilderness! ⁷ Because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you too will be captured; and Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and his officials together. ^b b v7 Chemosh was the national god of Moab; the oracle declares that even Moab's god will be carried off into exile, unable to save his own people. ⁸ The destroyer will come against every city, and no city will escape; the valley will perish and the plateau will be destroyed, as our Father has spoken. ⁹ Give wings to Moab, for she must fly away; her cities will become a desolation, with no one to dwell in them. ¹⁰ Cursed is the one who does the work of our Father with slackness, and cursed is the one who keeps back his sword from blood. ¹¹ Moab has been at ease from his youth, settled on his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile. So his taste remains in him, and his scent is unchanged.

¹² Therefore, the days are coming, declares our Father, when I will send to him decanters who will pour him out; they will empty his vessels and smash his jars.

¹³ Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. ¹⁴ How can you say, "We are warriors, men valiant in battle"? ¹⁵ Moab is laid waste; his cities are overrun, and his finest young men have gone down to the slaughter, declares the King — the Father of heaven's armies is his name. ¹⁶ The calamity of Moab is near at hand, and his disaster hurries swiftly. ¹⁷ Mourn for him, all you who are around him, all who know his name; say, "How the mighty scepter is broken, the glorious staff!" ¹⁸ Come down from your glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant of Dibon! For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you; he has ruined your strongholds. ¹⁹ Stand by the road and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer! Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, "What has happened?" ²⁰ Moab is put to shame, for it is shattered. Wail and cry out! Tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. ²¹ Judgment has come upon the tableland — upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, ²² and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, ²³ and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, ²⁴ and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. ²⁵ The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares our Father. ²⁶ Make him drunk, because he defied our Father; so Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he too will become a laughingstock. ²⁷ Was not Israel a laughingstock to you? Was he caught among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you shook your head? ²⁸ Leave the cities and live among the rocks, O inhabitants of Moab! Be like the dove that nests at the mouth of a gorge. ²⁹ We have heard of the pride of Moab — he is very proud — of his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰ I know his insolence, declares our Father; his boasts are false, his deeds are false. ³¹ Therefore I wail over Moab; for all Moab I cry out; for the men of Kir-heres I moan. ³² More than for Jazer I weep for you, O vine of Sibmah! Your branches reached over the sea, as far as the sea of Jazer they stretched; upon your summer fruit and your grape harvest the destroyer has fallen. ³³ Gladness and joy are taken away from the orchard land of Moab; I have made the wine cease from the winepresses; no one treads with a shout. The shouting is no shout of joy.

³⁴ From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they raise their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have become desolate.

³⁵ I will bring to an end in Moab, declares our Father, the one who offers sacrifice on the high place and burns incense to his god.

³⁶ Therefore my heart moans for Moab like flutes; my heart moans like flutes for the men of Kir-heres; therefore the wealth they gained has perished. ³⁷ For every head is shaved and every beard cut off; on all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is mourning clothes.

³⁸ On all the housetops of Moab and in its squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have shattered Moab like a jar no one wants, declares our Father.

³⁹ How it is shattered! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become an object of derision and horror to all who are around him.

⁴⁰ For thus says our Father: Look, one will swoop like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab. ⁴¹ The cities are captured and the strongholds seized. In that day the heart of Moab's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

⁴² Moab will be destroyed as a people, because he defied our Father.

⁴³ Terror, pit, and snare are upon you, O inhabitant of Moab! declares our Father. ⁴⁴ He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; for I will bring upon Moab the year of their reckoning, declares our Father.

⁴⁵ In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stop, exhausted; for fire has gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the house of Sihon. It has devoured the forehead of Moab, the crown of the sons of tumult. ⁴⁶ Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons are taken into captivity and your daughters into exile.

⁴⁷ Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares our Father. Thus far is the judgment on Moab.