15 The mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) concerning Moab: Because in a night Ar of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence! Because in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste and brought to silence!

² They are gone up to Bayith and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba; on all their heads is baldness, and every beard is cut off [as a sign of deep sorrow and humiliation].^(A)

³ In their streets they gird themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses and in their broad places everyone wails, weeping abundantly.

⁴ And Heshbon and Elealeh [cities in possession of Moab] cry out; their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed soldiers of Moab cry out; [Moab’s] life is grievous and trembles within him.

⁵ My heart cries out for Moab; his nobles and other fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah [like a heifer three years old]. For with weeping they go up the ascent of Luhith; for on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction.^(B)

⁶ For the waters of Nimrim are desolations, for the grass is withered away and the new growth fails; there is no green thing.

⁷ Therefore the abundance [of possessions] they have acquired and stored away they [now] carry over the willow brook and to the valley of the Arabians.

⁸ For the cry [of distress] has gone round the borders of Moab; the wailing has reached to Eglaim, and the prolonged and mournful cry to Beer-elim.

⁹ For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; yet I [the Lord] will bring even more on Dimon—a lion upon those of Moab who escape and upon the remnant of the land.

16 You [Moabites, now fugitives in Edom, which is ruled by the king of Judah] send ^[a]lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela or Petra through the desert and wilderness to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion [Jerusalem].^(A)

² For like wandering birds, like a brood cast out and a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the [river] Arnon.

³ [Say to the ruler] Give counsel, execute justice [for Moab, O king of Judah]; make your shade [over us] like night in the midst of noonday; hide the outcasts, betray not the fugitive to his pursuer.

⁴ Let our outcasts of Moab dwell among you; be a sheltered hiding place to them from the destroyer. When the extortion and the extortioner have been brought to nought, and destruction has ceased, and the oppressors and they who trample men are consumed and have vanished out of the land,

⁵ Then in mercy and loving-kindness shall a throne be established, and ^[b] One shall sit upon it in truth and faithfulness in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and being swift to do righteousness.^(B)

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud—even of his arrogance, his conceit, his wrath, his untruthful boasting.

⁷ Moab therefore shall wail for Moab; everyone shall wail. For the ruins, flagons of wine, and the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you shall sigh and mourn, utterly stricken and discouraged.

⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish and wither, and the vines of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have broken down [Moab’s] choice vine branches, which reached even to Jazer, wandering into the wilderness; its shoots stretched out abroad, they passed over [the shores of] the [Dead] Sea.

⁹ Therefore I [Isaiah] will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vines of Sibmah. I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for upon your summer fruits and your harvest the shout [of alarm and the cry of the enemy] has fallen.

¹⁰ And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there is no singing, nor is there joyful sound; the treaders tread out no wine in the presses, for the shout of joy has been made to cease.

¹¹ Wherefore my heart sounds like a harp [in mournful compassion] for Moab, and my inner being [goes out] for Kir-hareseth [for those brick-walled citadels of his].

¹² It shall be that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself [worshiping] on the high place [of idolatry], he will come to his sanctuary [of Chemosh, god of Moab], but he will not prevail. [Then will he be ashamed of his god.]^(C)

¹³ This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning Moab since that time [when Moab’s pride and resistance to God were first known].

¹⁴ But now the Lord has spoken, saying, Within ^[c]three years, as the years of a hireling [who will not serve longer than the allotted time], the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, in spite of all his mighty multitudes of people; and the remnant that survives will be very small, feeble, and of no account.

48 Concerning Moab: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe to [the city of] Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is put to shame and taken; Misgab [the high fortress] is put to shame, broken down, and crushed.^(A)

² The glory of Moab is no more; in Heshbon [a border town between Reuben and Gad, east of the Jordan River] they planned evil against her, saying, Come, let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, O [town of] Madmen, shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue you.

³ The sound of a cry from Horonaim, [a cry of] desolation and great destruction!

⁴ Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard [as far as Zoar].

⁵ For the ascent of Luhith will be climbed [by successive bands of fugitives] with continual weeping; for on the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.

⁶ Flee! Save your lives! But they shall be like a destitute and forsaken person in the wilderness.

⁷ For because you have trusted in your works [your bungling idol images] and in your treasures [instead of in God], you shall also be taken. And Chemosh [your god] shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

⁸ And the destroyer shall come upon every city; no city shall escape. The [Jordan] valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be devastated, as the Lord has said.

⁹ Give wings to Moab, for [by that means only] she will flee and get away; her cities will be desolate, without any to dwell in them.

¹⁰ Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord negligently [with slackness, deceitfully]; and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood [in executing judgment pronounced by the Lord].

¹¹ Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees [like wine] and has not been drawn off from one vessel to another, neither has he gone into exile. Therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent has not changed.

¹² Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall send to [Moab] tilters who shall tilt him up and shall empty his vessels and break his bottles (earthenware) in pieces.

¹³ And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh [his god], as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.^(B)

¹⁴ How can you say, We are heroes and mighty men in the war?

¹⁵ Moab has been made desolate, and his cities have gone up [in smoke and flame]; and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King, Whose name is the Lord of hosts.

¹⁶ The destruction of Moab is coming near, and his calamity hastens swiftly.

¹⁷ Bemoan him, all you [nations] who are around him, and all you [nations more remote] who know his name; say, How broken is the mighty scepter [of national power] and the splendid rod [of glory]!

¹⁸ Come down from your glory, you inhabitant of the Daughter of ^[a]Dibon, and sit on the ground among the thirsty! For the destroyer of Moab is advancing against you; he will destroy your strongholds.

¹⁹ O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch! Ask him who flees and her who escapes, What has happened?

²⁰ Moab is put to shame, for she is broken down. Wail and cry out! Tell by [the banks of] the Arnon that Moab is laid waste (destroyed).

²¹ Judgment has come upon the land of the plain—upon Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath,

²² And upon Dibon and Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,

²³ And upon Kiriathaim and Beth-gamul and Beth-meon,

²⁴ And upon Kerioth and Bozrah—and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.

²⁵ The horn (strength) of Moab is cut off, and his arm [of authority] is shattered, says the Lord.

²⁶ Make him drunk, for he has magnified himself against the Lord [by resisting Reuben’s occupation of the land the Lord had assigned him]. Moab also shall splash in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision.^(C)

²⁷ For was not Israel [an object of] derision to you? Was he found among thieves—since whenever you speak of him you wag your head [in scorn]?

²⁸ O you inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities and dwell among the rocks, and be like the dove that makes her nest in the walls of the yawning ravine.

²⁹ We have heard of the [giddy] pride of Moab, the extremely proud one—his loftiness, his arrogance, his conceit, and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰ I know his insolent wrath, says the Lord, and the nothingness of his boastings and his deeds; they are false and have accomplished nothing.

³¹ Therefore I will wail over Moab, and I will cry out over the whole of Moab. Over the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth) there will be sighing and mourning.^(D)

³² O vines of Sibmah, I weep for you more than the weeping of Jazer [over its ruins and wasted vineyards]. Your tendrils [of influence] have gone over the sea, reaching even to Jazer. The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruit harvest and your [season’s] crop of grapes.

³³ Joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful orchards and fields and from the land of Moab. And I have made the juice [of the grape] to fail from what is pressed out in the vats; no one treads [the grapes] with shouting. Their shouting is no shouting [of joy, but is a battle cry].

³⁴ From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah [like a three-year-old heifer], for even the waters of Nimrim have become desolations.

³⁵ Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab, says the Lord, the one who ascends and offers in the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods.

³⁶ Therefore My heart moans and sighs for Moab like flutes, and My heart moans and sighs like flutes for the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth); therefore [the remnant of] the abundant riches they gained has perished.

³⁷ For every head is shaven bald and every beard cut off: upon all the hands are cuts (slashes) and upon the loins is sackcloth [all to express mourning].^(E)

³⁸ On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere, for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which there is no pleasure, says the Lord.

³⁹ How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become [an object of] a derision and a [horrifying] terror to all who are round about him.

⁴⁰ For thus says the Lord: Behold, he [Babylon] shall fly swiftly like an eagle and shall spread out his wings against Moab.^(F)

⁴¹ Kerioth [and the cities] shall be taken and the strongholds seized; and the hearts of the mighty warriors of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs [in childbirth].

⁴² And Moab shall be ^[b]destroyed from being a nation, because he has magnified himself against the Lord.

⁴³ Terror and pit and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab, says the Lord.^(G)

⁴⁴ He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit, and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken and caught in the trap or snare; for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation (their inspection and infliction of punishment), says the Lord.

⁴⁵ In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand powerless (stopped in their tracks, helpless and without strength), for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon; it has destroyed the corner of Moab and the crowns of the heads of the ones in tumult [the proud Moabites].

⁴⁶ Woe to you, O Moab! The people of [the god] Chemosh are undone; for your sons are taken away captive and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷ Yet will I reverse the captivity and ^[c]restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, says the Lord. Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

2 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Moab [descendants of Lot] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom [Esau’s descendant] into lime.

² So I will send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, shouting, and the sound of the trumpet.

³ And I will cut off the ruler from its midst and will slay all its princes with him, says the Lord.

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⁸ I have heard the taunts of Moab and the revilings of the Ammonites by which they have reproached My people, and magnified themselves and made boasts against their territory.

⁹ Therefore, as I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles and wild vetches and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of My people shall make a prey of them and what is left of My nation shall possess them.

¹⁰ This shall they have for their pride, because they have taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts.

¹¹ The Lord will be terrible to them, for He will make lean and famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles and coastlands of the nations.^(A)

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