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 has been put to shame, it has been captured;
The high stronghold has been put to shame and ①shattered.
▷ ①Or dismayed
48:2 There is no longer praise for Moab;
In Heshbon they have devised disaster against her:
‘Come and let’s cut her off from being a nation!’
You too, ①Madmen, will be silenced;
The sword will follow you.
▷ ①Heb Madmen; i.e., a city of Moab
48:3 The sound of an outcry from Horonaim,
‘Devastation and great destruction!’
48:4 Moab is broken,
Her little ones have sounded out a cry of distress.
48:5 For they will go up by the ascent of Luhith
With continual weeping;
For at the descent of Horonaim
They have heard the ①anguished cry of destruction.
▷ ①Lit distresses of outcry
48:6 Flee, save yourselves,
So that you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.
48:7 For because of your trust in your own achievements and treasures,
You yourself will also be captured;
And Chemosh will go off into exile
Together with his priests and his leaders.
48:8 A destroyer will come to every city,
So that no city will escape;
The valley also will be ruined
And the plateau will be destroyed,
As the LORD has said.
48:9 Give ①wings to Moab,
For she will ②flee away;
And her cities will become a desolation,
Without inhabitants in them.
▷ ①Or salt ②Or fall in ruins
48:10 Cursed is the one who does the LORD’S work negligently,
And cursed is the one who restrains his sword from blood.
48:11 “Moab has been at ease since his youth;
He has also been peaceful, like wine on ①its dregs,
And he has not been poured from vessel to vessel,
Nor has he gone into exile.
Therefore ②he retains his flavor,
And his aroma has not changed.
▷ ①Lit his ②Lit his flavor has stayed in him
48:12 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 pour out his vessels and smash ①his jars.
▷ ①Lit their
48:13 And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.
48:14 How can you say, ‘We are warriors,
And men competent for battle’?
48:15 Moab has been destroyed and ①men have gone up to ②his cities;
His choicest ③young men have also gone down to the slaughter,”
Declares the King, whose name is the LORD of armies.
▷ ①Lit one has ②Lit her ③I.e., warriors
48:16 “The disaster of Moab will soon come,
And his catastrophe has hurried quickly.
48:17 Mourn for him, all you who live around him,
And all of you who know his name;
Say, ‘How the mighty ①scepter has been broken,
A staff of splendor!’
▷ ①Or rod
48:18 Come down from your glory
And sit on the parched ground,
O daughter living in Dibon,
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,
He has ruined your strongholds.
48:19 Stand by the road and keep watch,
You inhabitant of Aroer;
Ask him who flees and her who escapes
And say, ‘What has happened?’
48:20 Moab has been put to shame, for it has been ①shattered.
Wail and cry out;
Declare by the Arnon
That Moab has been destroyed.
▷ ①Or dismayed
48:21 “Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, Jahzah, and against Mephaath,
48:22 against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,
48:23 against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,
48:24 against Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.
48:25 The horn of Moab has been cut off, and his arm broken,” declares the LORD.
48:26 “Make him drunk, for he has ①become arrogant toward the LORD; so Moab will ②vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock.
▷ ①Or magnified himself against ②Lit vomit in his vomit
48:27 Now was Israel not a laughingstock to you? Or was he ①caught among thieves? For whenever you speak about him you shake your head in scorn.
▷ ①Or found
48:28 Leave the cities and live among the rocky cliffs,
You inhabitants of Moab,
And be like a dove that nests
Beyond the mouth of the chasm.
48:29 We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud—
Of his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance, and ①his self-exaltation.
▷ ①Lit elevation of his heart
48:30 I know his fury,” declares the LORD,
“But it is futile;
His idle boasts have accomplished nothing.
48:31 Therefore I will wail for Moab,
For all of Moab I will cry out;
①I will moan for the men of Kir-heres.
▷ ①Another reading is He
48:32 More than the weeping for Jazer
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.
48:33 So joy and rejoicing are removed
From the fruitful field, and from the land of Moab.
And I have eliminated the wine from the wine presses;
No one will tread them with shouting,
The shouting will not be shouts of joy.
48:34 From the outcry at Heshbon to Elealeh, to Jahaz they have ①raised their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim, and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate.
▷ ①Lit given forth
48:35 And I will put an end to Moab,” declares the LORD, “the one who offers sacrifice on the high place and the one who ①burns incense to his gods.
▷ ①Or offers up in smoke
48:36 “Therefore My heart makes a sound like flutes for Moab; My heart also makes a sound like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have lost the abundance it produced.
48:37 For every head is shaved bald, and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands, and sackcloth around the waists.
48:38 On all the housetops of Moab and in its public squares ①there is mourning everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable vessel,” declares the LORD.
▷ ①Lit all of it is mourning
48:39 “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 object of terror to all around him.”
▷ ①Or terrified
48:40 For this is what the LORD says:
“Behold, one will fly swiftly like an eagle
And spread out his wings against Moab.
48:41 Kerioth has been captured
And the strongholds have been seized,
So the hearts of the warriors of Moab on that day
Will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
48:42 Moab will be destroyed from being a people
Because he has ①become arrogant toward the LORD.
▷ ①Or magnified himself against
48:43 Terror, pit, and snare are coming upon you,
Inhabitant of Moab,” declares the LORD.
48:44 “The one who flees 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 will bring upon her, upon Moab,
The year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.
48:45 “In the shadow of Heshbon
The fugitives stand without strength;
For a fire has spread out from Heshbon
And a flame from the midst of Sihon,
And it has devoured the forehead of Moab
And the scalps of the ①loud revelers.
▷ ①Lit sons of uproar
48:46 Woe to you, Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished;
For your sons have been taken away captive,
And your daughters into captivity.
48:47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
In the ①latter days,” declares the LORD. This is the extent of the judgment on Moab.
▷ ①Lit end of the days