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This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:
“Woe to Nebo, for it will be laid waste;
Kiriathaim will be put to shame and taken captive;
the stronghold will be put to shame and dismayed.
2 There will be no more praise for Moab;
in Heshbon they plot evil against her:
‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation’.
You, O Madmen, will also be silenced;
the sword will pursue you.
3 A voice cries out from Horonaim:
‘Havoc and great destruction!’
4 “Moab will be shattered;
her children will cry out.
5 For on the ascent of Luhith
they go up with bitter weeping;
for at the descent to Horonaim
anguished cries will be heard over the destruction.
6 Flee! Save your lives!
Become like a juniper bush in the wilderness.
7 “Since you trust in your deeds and in your treasures,
you will also be captured.
Chemosh will go into captivity,
along with his priests and officials.
8 The destroyer will come against every town;
not one town will escape.
The valley will be devastated,
and the plateau destroyed,
because the Lord has spoken.
9 Pour salt on Moab,
for she will flee away;
her towns will become desolate,
without any inhabitants.
10 “Cursed is he who is slack
in doing the work of the Lord,
and cursed is he who withholds
his sword from bloodshed!
11 “Moab has been at ease from his youth;
settled like wine on its dregs,
and not poured from one vessel into another.
He has not gone into captivity,
so his taste remains the same,
and his aroma has not changed.
12 “But the days are coming,”
declares the Lord,
“when I will send vintners against him,
who will pour him out and empty his containers;
they will smash his jars in pieces.
13 Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,
as the house of Israel was put to shame by Bethel, their confidence.
14 “How can you say, ‘We are warriors,
men mighty in battle’?
15 The destroyer of Moab and her towns
has invaded;
the choicest of her young men
have gone down to the slaughter,”
declares the King,
whose name is the Lord of Hosts.
16 “The calamity of Moab is near at hand;
her doom swiftly approaches.
17 Mourn for her, all you who dwell around her,
all of you who know her name;
say, ‘How the mighty sceptre has been broken,
the glorous staff!’
18 “Come down from your glory,
and sit on parched ground,
O inhabitants of the Daughter of Dibon,
for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;
he has destroyed your strongholds.
19 Stand by the road and watch,
O inhabitant of Aroer.
Ask him who flees and she who escapes,
‘What has happened?’
20 Moab is put to shame, for he is broken down.
Wail and cry out!
Announce it by the Arnon
that Moab is destroyed.
21 “Judgment has come upon the plateau lands—
to Holon, to Jahzah, and to Mephaath,
22 to Dibon, to Nebo, and to Beth-diblathaim,
23to Kiriathaim, to Beth-gamul, and to Beth-meon,
24to Kerioth, to Bozrah—
to all the towns of Moab, far and near.
25 The horn of Moab is cut off,
and his arm is broken,”
declares the Lord.
26 “Make him drunk,
because he has exalted himself against the Lord.
Moab will wallow in his own vomit;
he will become a laughingstock.
27 Was not Israel a laughingstock to you?
Was he ever found among thieves?
For whenever you speak of him,
you shake your head in scorn.
28 Abandon the towns, and live among the rocks,
you who live in Moab.
Be like a dove that makes her nest
at the mouth of a cave.
29 “We have heard of the pride of Moab—
for he is indeed very proud;
of his loftiness, arrogance, and pride,
and the haughtiness of his heart.
30 I know his insolence,”
declares the Lord,
“but it is empty;
his boasts achieve nothing.
31 Therefore I will wail for Moab,
I will cry out for all of Moab;
for the men of Kir-heres My heart will mourn.
32 I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah,
with more weeping than for Jazer.
Your branches have spread as far as the sea,
they reach to the sea of Jazar.
The destroyer has fallen
upon your summer fruits and your vintage.
33 Joy and gladness are taken
from the bounteous fields and lands of Moab.
I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses;
no one treads them with shouts of joy;
the shouting is not shouts of joy.
34 “A cry rises up
from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz;
they raise their voices
from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah;
for even the waters of Nimrim
have become desolate.
35 In Moab I will bring an end,”
declares the Lord,
“to him who offers sacrifices on the high places,
and burns incense to his gods.
36 “Therefore My heart moans like a flute for Moab,
My heart moans like flutes for the men of Kir-heres,
for the riches he has gained has perished.
37 For every head is shaved and every beard clipped;
every hand is gashed and around every waist is sackcloth.
38 There is but mourning on all the rooftops of Moab,
and in the public squares;
for I have broken Moab
like a jar that no one wants,”
declares the Lord.
39 “How broken it is!
How they wail!
How Moab turns his back with shame.
Moab has become a derision,
and an object of horror to all those around him.”
40 For this is what the Lord says:
“Behold, he will swoop down like an eagle,
and spread his wings over Moab.
41 Kerioth will be captured,
and the strongholds seized.
On that day the hearts of Moab’s warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labour.
42 Moab will be destroyed as a people,
because he has magnified himself against the Lord.
43 Terror and the pit and the snare await you,
O inhabitant of Moab,”
declares the Lord.
44 “He who flees from the terror
will fall into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit
will be caught in the snare;
for I will bring upon Moab
the year of their punishment,”
declares the Lord.
45 “In the shadow of Heshbon
the fugitives who fled stand helplessly,
for fire has come forth from Heshbon,
and a flame from within the midst of Sihon.
It devours the brow of Moab,
the crown of the head from the sons of tumult.
46 Woe to you, O Moab!
the people of Chemosh have perished;
for your sons have been taken captive,
and your daughters have gone into captivity.
47 “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in latter days,”
declares the Lord.
So ends the judgment on Moab.