Jeremiah48

¹Concerning Moab . Thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel : Woe to Nebo , for it is laid waste ! Kiriathaim is put to shame , it is taken ; the fortress is put to shame and broken down ;

²the renown of Moab is no more . In Heshbon they planned disaster against her: Come , let us cut her off from being a nation ! You also , O Madmen , shall be brought to silence ; the sword shall pursue you.

³A voice ! A cry from Horonaim , Desolation and great destruction !

⁴Moab is destroyed ; her little ones have made a cry .

⁵For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping ; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distressed cry of destruction .

⁶Flee ! Save yourselves ! You will be like a juniper in the desert !

⁷For , because you trusted in your works and your treasures , you also shall be taken ; and Chemosh shall go into exile with his priests and his officials .

⁸The destroyer shall come upon every city , and no city shall escape ; the valley shall perish , and the plain shall be destroyed , as the Lord has spoken .

⁹Give wings to Moab , for she would fly away ; her cities shall become a desolation , with no inhabitant in them .

¹⁰Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness , and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed .

¹¹Moab has been at ease from his youth and has 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 not changed .

¹²Therefore , behold , the days are coming , declares the Lord, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him , and empty his vessels and break his jars in pieces .

¹³Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh , as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel , their confidence .

¹⁴How do you say , We are heroes and mighty men of war ?

¹⁵The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up , and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter , declares the King , whose name is the Lord of hosts .

¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near at hand , and his affliction hastens swiftly .

¹⁷Grieve for him, all you who are around him , and all who know his name ; say , How the mighty scepter is broken , the glorious staff .

¹⁸Come 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 destroyed your strongholds .

¹⁹Stand by the way and watch , O inhabitant of Aroer ! Ask him who flees and her who escapes ; say , What has happened ?

²⁰Moab is put to shame , for it is broken ; wail and cry ! Tell it beside the Arnon , that Moab is laid waste .

²¹Judgment has come upon the tableland , upon Holon , and Jahzah , and Mephaath ,

²²and Dibon , and Nebo , and Beth-diblathaim ,

²³and Kiriathaim , and Beth-gamul , and Beth-meon ,

²⁴and Kerioth , and Bozrah , and all the cities of the land of Moab , far and near .

²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off , and his arm is broken , declares the Lord.

²⁶Make him drunk , because he magnified himself against the Lord, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit , and he too shall be held in derision .

²⁷Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves , that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head ?

²⁸Leave the cities , and dwell in the rock , O inhabitants of Moab ! Be like the dove that nests in the sides of the mouth of a gorge .

²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab — he is very proud — of his loftiness , his pride , and his arrogance , and the haughtiness of his heart .

³⁰I know his insolence , declares the Lord; his boasts are false , his deeds are false .

³¹Therefore I wail for Moab ; I cry out for all Moab ; for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn .

³²More than for Jazer I weep for you, O vine of Sibmah ! Your branches passed over the sea , reached to the Sea of Jazer ; on your summer fruits and your grapes the destroyer has fallen .

³³Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab ; I have made the wine cease from the winepresses ; no one treads them with shouts of joy ; the shouting is not the shout of joy .

³⁴From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh , as far as Jahaz they utter their voice , from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah . For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate .

³⁵And I will bring to an end in Moab , declares the Lord, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god .

³⁶Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute , and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth . Therefore the riches they gained have perished .

³⁷For every head is shaved and every beard cut off . On all the hands are gashes , and around the waist is sackcloth .

³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation , for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares , declares the Lord.

³⁹How it is broken ! How they wail ! How Moab has turned his back in shame ! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him .

⁴⁰For thus says the Lord: Behold , one shall fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab ;

⁴¹the cities shall be taken and the strongholds seized . The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains ;

⁴²Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people , because he magnified himself against the Lord.

⁴³Terror , pit , and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab ! declares the Lord.

⁴⁴He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit , and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare . For I will bring these things upon Moab , the year of their punishment , declares the Lord.

⁴⁵In the shadow of Heshbon fugitives stop without strength , for fire came out from Heshbon , flame from the house of Sihon ; it has destroyed the forehead of Moab , the crown of the sons of tumult .

⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab ! The people of Chemosh are undone , for your sons have been taken captive , and your daughters into captivity .

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