Jeremiah 48
1 Concerning Moab. This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it has been destroyed! Kiriathaim is disgraced and captured; the stronghold is disgraced and shattered.”
2 Moab is no longer praised. In Heshbon they plotted disaster against her: ‘Come, let us wipe her out as a nation.’ You too, Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.
3 A cry is heard from Horonaim: devastation and great destruction!
4 Moab is broken; its little ones have raised a cry.
5 On the ascent to Luhith they go up weeping without pause; on the descent to Horonaim cries of anguish over the destruction are heard.
6 Flee! Save your lives! Be like a shrub in the wilderness.
7 Because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you too will be captured. Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.
8 The destroyer will come against every city, and no city will escape. The valley will be ruined and the plateau laid waste, as the LORD has said.
9 Give Moab wings, for she will fly away; her cities will become a horror, with no one living in them.
10 Cursed is the one who does the LORD’s work carelessly! Cursed is the one who holds back his sword from bloodshed!
11 Moab has been at ease since its youth, settled on its dregs. It has not been poured from vessel to vessel, nor gone into exile. So its taste has remained unchanged, and its aroma has not altered.
12 Therefore, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will send men to pour him out. They will pour him out, empty his vessels, and smash his jars.
13 Moab will be ashamed because of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was ashamed because of Bethel, in which it trusted.
14 How can you say, ‘We are warriors, men ready for battle’?
15 Moab is destroyed; its cities have been invaded, and its finest young men have gone down to the slaughter,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Armies.
16 Moab’s disaster is near at hand, and its calamity is coming very quickly.
17 Mourn for him, all who are around him and all who know his name. Say, ‘How the mighty staff is broken, the glorious rod!’
18 Come down from your glory and sit on parched ground, you who live in Dibon, daughter of Dibon. For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you and ruined your strongholds.
19 Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man who is fleeing and the woman who is escaping, ‘What has happened?’
20 Moab is disgraced, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out! Announce by the Arnon that Moab has been 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, Bozrah, and all the towns of Moab, far and near.
25 Moab’s horn has been cut off, and its arm has been broken,” declares the LORD.
26 Make him drunk, for he has exalted himself against the LORD. Moab will roll in his own vomit, and he too will become a laughingstock.
27 Wasn’t Israel a laughingstock to you? Was he found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him, you shake your head.
28 Leave the cities and live among the rocks, inhabitants of Moab! Be like a dove nesting along the edge of a chasm.
29 We have heard of Moab’s pride: how very proud he is! His arrogance, his pride, his insolence, and his haughty heart!
30 I know his fury,” declares the LORD, “but it has no basis; his boasts have achieved nothing.
31 Therefore I wail for Moab; I cry out for all Moab. I lament for the men of Kir-heres.
32 More than I weep for Jazer, I weep for you, vine of Sibmah. Your branches crossed the sea and reached as far as the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruit and your harvest.
33 Joy and gladness have been taken away from the orchard and from the land of Moab. I have stopped the wine from flowing in the winepresses; no one treads with shouts of joy—the shout is no longer a shout of joy.
34 From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz, they raised their voices; from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate.
35 I will put an end in Moab,” declares the LORD, “to those who go up to the high place and burn incense to their gods.
36 Therefore my heart moans like a flute for Moab; my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore the wealth they have acquired has perished.
37 For every head is shaved, every beard cut off; there are cuts on every hand, and sackcloth around every waist.
38 On all the rooftops of Moab and in its squares, there is nothing but mourning. For I have broken Moab like a vessel no one wants,” declares the LORD.
39 How it has been shattered! Wail! How Moab has turned away in shame! Moab has become a laughingstock and a horror to all around him.
40 For this is what the LORD says: “Look! He will swoop like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab.
41 Kerioth has been captured, and the strongholds seized. On that day the hearts of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
42 Moab will be destroyed and cease to be a people, because he exalted himself against the LORD.
43 Terror, pit, and snare are upon you, inhabitant of Moab,” declares the LORD.
44 Whoever flees from the terror will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon Moab the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.
45 Those fleeing, exhausted, stopped in the shadow of Heshbon; for fire came out of Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon. It devoured Moab’s brow and the crown of the heads of the people of tumult.
46 Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh are lost, for your sons have been taken captive and your daughters carried away.
47 But in the days to come I will restore Moab’s fortunes,” declares the LORD. Here ends the judgment on Moab.
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