Jeremiah 48

Chapter 48

Prophecy against Moab

¹Concerning ^aMoab. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,

“Woe to ^bNebo, for it has been destroyed;

^cKiriathaim has been put to shame, it has been captured;

The lofty stronghold has been put to shame and ¹shattered.

²“There is praise for Moab no longer;

In ^aHeshbon they have devised calamity against her:

‘Come and let us cut her off from being a nation!’

You too, ¹Madmen, will be silenced;

The sword will follow after you.

³“The sound of an outcry from ^aHoronaim,

‘Devastation and great destruction!’

⁴“Moab is broken,

Her little ones have sounded out a cry of distress.

⁵“For by the ascent of ^aLuhith

They will ascend with continual weeping;

For at the descent of Horonaim

They have heard the ¹anguished cry of destruction.

⁶“^aFlee, save your lives,

That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

⁷“For because of your ^atrust in your own achievements and treasures,

Even you yourself will be captured;

And ^bChemosh will go off into exile

Together with his priests and his princes.

⁸“A destroyer will come to every city,

So that no city will escape;

The valley also will be ruined

And the ^aplateau will be destroyed,

As the Lord has said.

⁹“Give ^1awings to Moab,

For she will ²flee away;

And her cities will become a ^bdesolation,

Without inhabitants in them.

¹⁰“^aCursed be the one who does the Lord’s work ^bnegligently,

And cursed be the one who restrains his ^csword from blood.

¹¹“Moab has been ^aat ease since his youth;

He has also been ^bundisturbed, like wine on ¹its dregs,

And he has not been ^cemptied from vessel to vessel,

Nor has he gone into exile.

Therefore ²he retains his flavor,

And his aroma has not changed.

¹²“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will send to him those who tip vessels, and they will tip him over, and they will empty his vessels and shatter ¹his jars.

¹³“And Moab will be ^aashamed of ^bChemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of ^cBethel, their confidence.

¹⁴“How can you say, ‘We are ^amighty warriors,

And men valiant for battle’?

¹⁵“Moab has been destroyed and ¹men have gone up to ²his cities;

His choicest ^3ayoung men have also gone down to the slaughter,”

Declares the ^bKing, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

¹⁶“The disaster of Moab will ^asoon come,

And his calamity has swiftly hastened.

¹⁷“Mourn for him, all you who live around him,

Even all of you who know his name;

Say, ‘How has the mighty ^1ascepter been broken,

A staff of splendor!’

¹⁸“^aCome down from your glory

And sit ¹on the parched ground,

O ^bdaughter dwelling in ^cDibon,

For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,

He has ruined your strongholds.

¹⁹“Stand by the road and keep watch,

O inhabitant of ^aAroer;

^bAsk him who flees and her who escapes

And say, ‘What has happened?’

²⁰“Moab has been put to shame, for it has been ¹shattered.

Wail and cry out;

Declare by the ^aArnon

That Moab has been destroyed.

²¹“Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, ^aJahzah and against ^bMephaath,

²²against Dibon, Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,

²³against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul and ^aBeth-meon,

²⁴against ^aKerioth, Bozrah and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.

²⁵“The ^ahorn of Moab has been cut off and his ^barm broken,” declares the Lord.

²⁶“^aMake him drunk, for he has ¹become ^barrogant toward the Lord; so Moab will ²wallow in his vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock.

²⁷“Now was not Israel a ^alaughingstock to you? Or was he ^1bcaught among thieves? For each time you speak about him you ^cshake your head in scorn.

²⁸“Leave the cities and dwell among the ^acrags,

O inhabitants of Moab,

And be like a ^bdove that nests

Beyond the mouth of the chasm.

²⁹“^aWe have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud—

Of his haughtiness, his ^bpride, his arrogance and ¹his self-exaltation.

³⁰“I know his ^afury,” declares the Lord,

“But it is futile;

His idle boasts have accomplished nothing.

³¹“Therefore I will ^awail for Moab,

Even for all Moab will I cry out;

¹I will moan for the men of ^bKir-heres.

³²“More than the ^aweeping for ^bJazer

I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah!

Your tendrils stretched across the sea,

They reached to the sea of Jazer;

Upon your summer fruits and your grape harvest

The destroyer has fallen.

³³“So ^agladness and joy are taken away

From the fruitful field, even from the land of Moab.

And I have made the wine to ^bcease from the wine presses;

No one will tread them with shouting,

The shouting will not be shouts of joy.

³⁴“^aFrom the outcry at Heshbon even to ^bElealeh, even to Jahaz they have ¹raised their voice, from ^cZoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate.

³⁵“I will make an end of Moab,” declares the Lord, “the one who offers sacrifice on the ^ahigh place and the one who ^1bburns incense to his gods.

³⁶“Therefore My ^aheart ¹wails for Moab like flutes; My heart also wails like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have ^blost the abundance it produced.

³⁷“For ^aevery head is bald and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands and ^bsackcloth on the loins.

³⁸“On all the ^ahousetops of Moab and in its streets ¹there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable ^bvessel,” declares the Lord.

³⁹“How ¹shattered it is! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back—he is ashamed! So Moab will become a laughingstock and an ^aobject of terror to all around him.”

⁴⁰For thus says the Lord:

“Behold, one will ^afly swiftly like an eagle

And ^bspread out his wings against Moab.

⁴¹“Kerioth has been captured

And the strongholds have been seized,

So the ^ahearts of the mighty men of Moab in that day

Will be like the heart of a ^bwoman in labor.

⁴²“Moab will be ^adestroyed from being a people

Because he has ¹become ^barrogant toward the Lord.

⁴³“^aTerror, pit and snare are coming upon you,

O inhabitant of Moab,” declares the Lord.

⁴⁴“The one who ^aflees from the terror

Will fall into the pit,

And the one who climbs up out of the pit

Will be caught in the snare;

For I shall bring upon her, even upon Moab,

The year of their ^bpunishment,” declares the Lord.

⁴⁵“In the shadow of Heshbon

The fugitives stand without strength;

For a fire has gone forth from Heshbon

And a ^aflame from the midst of ^bSihon,

And it has devoured the ^cforehead of Moab

And the scalps of the ¹riotous revelers.

⁴⁶“^aWoe to you, Moab!

The people of ^bChemosh have perished;

For your sons have been taken away captive

And your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷“Yet I will ^arestore the ¹fortunes of Moab

In the ²latter days,” declares the Lord.

Thus far the judgment on Moab.