Because Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night,

Moab is undone;

because Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night,

Moab is undone.

2  He has gone up to the temple,¹ and to Dibon,

to the high places² to weep;

over Nebo and over Medeba

Moab wails.

^mOn every head is baldness;

every beard is shorn;

3  in the streets they wear sackcloth;

on the housetops and in the squares

everyone wails and melts in tears.

4  Heshbon and Elealeh ⁿcry out;

their voice is heard as far as Jahaz;

therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;

his soul trembles.

5  My heart cries out for Moab;

her fugitives flee to Zoar,

to Eglath-shelishiyah.

For ^oat the ascent of Luhith

they go up weeping;

on the road to Horonaim

they raise a cry of destruction;

6  the waters of Nimrim

are a desolation;

the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,

the greenery is no more.

7  Therefore the abundance they have gained

and what they have laid up

they carry away

over the Brook of the Willows.

8  For a cry has gone

around the land of Moab;

her wailing reaches to Eglaim;

her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.

9  For the waters of Dibon³ are full of blood;

for I will bring upon Dibon even more,

a lion for those of Moab who escape,

for the remnant of the land.

1  Send the ^plamb to the ruler of the land,

from Sela, by way of the desert,

to the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2  Like fleeing birds,

like a scattered nest,

so are the daughters of Moab

at the fords of the Arnon.

3  “Give counsel;

grant justice;

make your shade like night

at the height of noon;

shelter the outcasts;

do not reveal the fugitive;

4  let the outcasts of Moab

sojourn among you;

be a shelter to them⁴

from the destroyer.

When the oppressor is no more,

and destruction has ceased,

and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,

5  then a ^qthrone will be established in steadfast love,

and on it will sit in faithfulness

in the tent of David

one who judges and seeks justice

and is swift to do righteousness.”

6  ^rWe have heard of the ^spride of Moab—

how proud he is!—

of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;

in his idle boasting he is not right.

7  Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,

let everyone wail.

Mourn, utterly stricken,

for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.

8  For the fields of Heshbon languish,

and the vine of Sibmah;

the lords of the nations

have struck down its branches,

which reached to Jazer

and strayed to the desert;

its shoots spread abroad

and passed over the sea.

9  Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer

for the vine of Sibmah;

I drench you with my tears,

O Heshbon and Elealeh;

for over your summer fruit and your harvest

the shout has ceased.

10  And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field,

and in the vineyards no songs are sung,

no cheers are raised;

no treader treads out wine in the presses;

I have put an end to the shouting.

11  Therefore ^tmy inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,

and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

“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;

2  the 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.

3  “A voice! A cry from Horonaim,

‘Desolation and great destruction!’

4  Moab is destroyed;

her little ones have made a cry.

5  For ^kat the ascent of Luhith

they go up weeping;¹

for at the descent of Horonaim

they have heard the distressed cry² of destruction.

6  Flee! Save yourselves!

You will be ^llike a juniper in the desert!

7  For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures,

you also shall be taken;

and ^mChemosh ⁿshall go into exile

with his priests and his officials.

8  The ^odestroyer 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.

9  “Give wings to Moab,

for she would fly away;

her cities shall become a desolation,

with no inhabitant in them.

11  “Moab 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.

14  “How do you say, ‘We are heroes

and mighty men of war’?

15  The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up,

and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,

declares the ^rKing, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

16  The calamity of Moab is near at hand,

and his affliction hastens swiftly.

17  Grieve for him, all you who are around him,

and all who know his name;

say, ‘How the mighty scepter is ^sbroken,

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 destroyed your strongholds.

19  Stand by the way 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 broken;

wail and cry!

Tell it beside the Arnon,

that Moab is laid waste.

28  “Leave 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.

29  ^wWe 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.

30  I know his insolence, declares the Lord;

his boasts are false,

his deeds are false.

31  Therefore I wail for Moab;

I cry out for all Moab;

for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn.

32  More 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.

33  Gladness 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.

40  For thus says the Lord:

^d“Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle

and spread his wings against Moab;

41  the 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;

42  Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people,

^ebecause he magnified himself against the Lord.

43  ^fTerror, pit, and snare

are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!

declares the Lord.

44  He 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.

45  “In the shadow of Heshbon

fugitives stop without strength,

for ^gfire came out from Heshbon,

flame from the house of Sihon;

it has destroyed 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 have been taken captive,

and your daughters into captivity.

47  Yet I will ^hrestore the fortunes of Moab

in the latter days, declares the Lord.”

Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

8  “I have heard the taunts of ^dMoab

and the revilings of the ^eAmmonites,

how they have taunted my people

and made boasts against their territory.

9  Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel,

“Moab shall become ^flike Sodom,

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,

a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,

and a waste forever.

The remnant of my people shall plunder them,

and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”

10  This shall be their lot in return for their ^gpride,

because they taunted and boasted

against the people of the Lord of hosts.

11  The Lord will be awesome against them;

for he will famish all the gods of the earth,

and to him shall bow down,

each in its place,

all the lands of the nations.