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Jeremiah

Judgment on Moab

48
Chapter 48
1 To Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Woe to Nebo, for it has been plundered, put to shame, and captured; Kiriathaim has been put to shame, its stronghold shattered." 2 There is no more praise of Moab in Heshbon. They devise evil against her: "Come, let us cut her off from nation." Even from blood she will be taken; after you a sword will go. 3 A sound of outcry from his burning anger, devastation and great breakage. 4 Moab is broken. Cry out her cry of distress, her young ones. 5 For the ascent of Horonaim they go up weeping—weeping; for in the descent of Horonaim the adversaries have heard distress. They have heard a cry of breaking. 6 Flee! Escape for your vital life force! May they be like Heshbon in the Wilderness. 7 For because you have trusted in your deeds and in your treasures, you will also be captured. Chemosh will go into exile, his priests and his princes together. 8 And a destroyer came to every city, and no city will escape; the valley perishes, and the tableland is destroyed, as the LORD has said. 9 Give a holy diadem to Moab, for it goes out—she goes out, and her cities will be to the name of God, with no inhabitant in them. 10 Cursed is the one who does the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed is the one who withholds his sword from blood. 11 Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees; he has not been poured from vessel to vessel, and he has not gone into exile; therefore his taste has remained in him, and his scent has not changed. 12 Therefore, behold, days are coming, says the LORD, and I will send to him pourers and they will pour him out, and they will empty his vessels and shatter their jars. 13 Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their trust. 14 How can you say, "We are mighty men and men of might for warfare"? 15 Moab is plundered, and her cities have gone up, and the choice of his young men have gone down to slaughter—oracle of the King, the LORD of heavenly hosts, his name. 16 The calamity of Moab is near, and his evil hastens greatly. 17 Mourn for him, all around him, all you who know his name—say, “How the staff of strength is broken, the rod of glory!” 18 Come down from your glory and sit in thirst, daughter of Dibon, for Moab has been plundered. A destroyer has come up against you; he has destroyed your fortresses. 19 Stand by the way and watch, O inhabitant of Heshbon. Ask the fugitive and the one who escaped; say, "What has become of her?" 20 Be ashamed, Moab, for it has been shattered. Howl and cry out! Proclaim it at Arnon, for Moab has been plundered. 21 And the judgment came to the land of the plain, to Holon and to Jahaz, and upon Miphat. 22 And over Dibon, over Nebo, and over the house of Diblathaim. 23 and on Kiriathaim, on Beth-Gamul, and on Beth-Meon. 24 And upon Kirioth and upon Bozrah and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, the far ones and the close ones. 25 The horn of Moab is cut down, and its seed is broken, says the LORD. 26 Make him drunk, for he magnified himself against the LORD. And clap Moab on his vomit, and he will be for laughter, even he. 27 And if it was not a jest to you, Israel—if he was found among thieves—for every word of yours about him you shake yourself. 28 Abandon cities and dwell in the rock, dwellers of Moab, and be like a dove nesting in the mouths of a pit. 29 We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is exceedingly proud—his haughtiness, his pride, his loftiness, and the height of his heart. 30 I know, says the LORD, his anger is not so—his boasts are not so, nor have they done so. 31 Therefore I will wail over Moab; for all Moab I will cry out. For the men of Kir-Hareseth I will groan. 32 From the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, vine of the high place. Your branches went across sea to sea to Jazer; they reached your rampart and your vintage. Spoil has fallen. 33 Joy and exultation have been gathered from the Carmel and from the land of Moab. I have caused the wine of the winepresses to cease; there is no treading, no glad shouting. 34 From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh to Jahaz they gave their voice; from Zoar to Horonaim, Eglath-shelishiyah. For even the waters of Nimrim will be desolations. 35 And I will cause to cease for Moab, says the LORD, burnt offering on high place and burning incense to his God. 36 Therefore my heart for Moab will wail like the profaned ones, and my heart to the men of Kir-Heres will wail like flutes. Therefore the abundances he has made have perished. 37 For every head is bald, and every beard is shaved; upon all hands are incisions, and upon loins sackcloth. 38 On all the rooftops of Moab and in its courts there is complete mourning, for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which there is no delight, says the LORD. 39 How she was shattered! They wail! How Moab has turned the back! Moab was shamed, and Moab became a laughingstock and a horror to all around him. 40 For thus says the LORD: "Behold, like an eagle he will swoop down and spread his wings toward Moab." 41 Kirioth is captured, and the cultic strongholds are seized. The hearts of Moab's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor on that day. 42 Moab is destroyed from the people, for he magnified himself against the LORD. 43 Terror and pit and snare are upon you, O inhabitant of Moab—oracle of the LORD. 44 The one who flees from the terror will fall into the pit, and the one who comes up from the pit will be captured in the trap, for I will bring it to her, to Moab, the year of their visitation, says the LORD. 45 In the shade of Heshbon they stood from the power of miracles, for fire went out from Heshbon and a flame from between Sihon, and it devoured the edge of Moab and the crown of the sons of tumult. 46 Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished, for your sons and your daughters have been taken captive. 47 And I will restore the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says the LORD. Thus far the judgment of Moab.