Jeremiah 48 — Legacy Standard Bible

Word Against Moab

48Concerning ^aMoab. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Woe to ^bNebo, for it has been destroyed;^cKiriathaim has been put to shame, it has been captured;The lofty stronghold has been put to shame and ¹shattered.

²“There is praise for Moab no longer;In ^aHeshbon they have devised calamity against her:‘Come and let us cut her off from being a nation!’You too, ¹Madmen, will be silenced;The sword will follow after you.³“The sound of an outcry from ^aHoronaim,‘¹Devastation and great destruction!’⁴“Moab is broken;Her little ones have made their cry of distress heard.⁵“For by the ascent of ^aLuhithThey will ascend with continual weeping;For at the descent of HoronaimThey have heard the distressed cry of destruction.⁶“^aFlee, escape with your lives,That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.⁷“For because of your ^atrust in your own works and treasures,Even you yourself will be captured;And ^bChemosh will go off into exileTogether with his priests and his princes.⁸“A destroyer will come to every city,So that no city will escape;The valley also will perish,And the ^aplateau will be destroyed,As Yahweh has said.⁹“Give ¹^,^awings to Moab,For she will ²flee away;And her cities will become a ^bdesolation,Without inhabitants in them.¹⁰“^aCursed be the one who does the work of Yahweh ^bwith a slack hand,And cursed be the one who restrains his ^csword from blood.¹¹“Moab has been ^aat ease since his youth;He has also had ^bquiet, like wine on ¹its dregs,And he has not been ^cemptied from vessel to vessel,Nor has he gone into exile.Therefore ²he retains his flavor,And his aroma has not changed.

¹²“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will send to him those who tip vessels, and they will tip him over, and they will empty his vessels and shatter ¹his jars. ¹³“And Moab will be ^aashamed of ^bChemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of ^cBethel, their trust.

¹⁴“How can you say, ‘We are ^amighty warriors,And men valiant for battle’?¹⁵“Moab has been destroyed, and ¹men have gone up to ²his cities;His choicest ³^,^ayoung men have also gone down to the slaughter,”Declares the ^bKing, whose name is Yahweh of hosts.¹⁶“The disaster of Moab will ^asoon come,And his calamity has quickly hastened.¹⁷“Mourn for him, all you who live around him,Even all of you who know his name;Say, ‘How has the strong ¹^,^ascepter been broken,A staff of beauty!’¹⁸“^aCome down from your gloryAnd inhabit ¹the parched ground,O inhabitant of the ^bdaughter of ^cDibon;For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,He has ruined your strongholds.¹⁹“Stand by the road and keep watch,O inhabitant of ^aAroer;^bAsk him who flees and her who escapesAnd say, ‘What has happened?’²⁰“Moab has been put to shame, for it has been ¹shattered.Wail and cry out;Declare by the ^aArnonThat Moab has been destroyed.

²¹“Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, upon ^aJahzah, and against ^bMephaath, ²²and against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, ²³and against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and ^aBeth-meon, ²⁴and against ^aKerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. ²⁵“The ^ahorn of Moab has been cut in pieces and his ^barm broken,” declares Yahweh. ²⁶“^aMake him drunk, for he has ^bmagnified himself against Yahweh; so Moab will ¹wallow in his vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock. ²⁷“Now was not Israel a ^alaughingstock to you? Or was he ¹^,^bcaught among thieves? For each time you speak about him you ^cshake your head in scorn.

²⁸“Leave the cities and dwell among the ^acrags,O inhabitants of Moab,And be like a ^bdove that nestsBeyond the mouth of the chasm.²⁹“^aWe have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud—Of his haughtiness, his ^bpride, his arrogance, and the exaltedness of his heart.³⁰“I know his ^afury,” declares Yahweh,“But it is nothing;His idle boasts have accomplished nothing.³¹“Therefore I will ^awail for Moab,Even for all Moab will I cry out;¹I will moan for the men of ^bKir-heres.³²“More than the ^aweeping for ^bJazerI will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah!Your branches stretched across the sea,They reached to the sea of Jazer;Upon your summer fruits and your grape harvestThe destroyer has fallen.³³“So ^agladness and joy are gathered upFrom the fruitful orchard, even from the land of Moab.And I have made the wine to ^bcease from the wine presses;No one will tread them with shouting,The shouting will not be shouts of joy.

³⁴“^aFrom the outcry at Heshbon even to ^bElealeh, even to Jahaz they have given forth their voice, from ^cZoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate. ³⁵“I will make Moab cease,” declares Yahweh, “the one who offers offerings on the ^ahigh place and the one who ^boffers offerings in smoke to his gods.

³⁶“Therefore My ^aheart moans for Moab like flutes; My heart also moans like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have ^blost the abundance it produced. ³⁷“For ^aevery head is bald and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands and ^bsackcloth on the loins. ³⁸“On all the ^arooftops of Moab and in its open squares ¹there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable ^bvessel,” declares Yahweh. 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 ^aobject of terror to all around him.”

⁴⁰For thus says Yahweh: “Behold, one will ^aswoop like an eagleAnd ^bspread out his wings against Moab.

⁴¹“Kerioth has been captured,And the strongholds have been seized,So the ^ahearts of the mighty men of Moab in that dayWill be like the heart of a ^bwoman in labor.⁴²“Moab will be ^adestroyed from being a peopleBecause he has ^bmagnified himself against Yahweh.⁴³“^aPanic and pit and pitfall are coming upon you,O inhabitant of Moab,” declares Yahweh.⁴⁴“The one who ^aflees from the panicWill fall into the pit,And the one who climbs up out of the pitWill be caught in the pitfall;For I shall bring upon her, even upon Moab,The year of their ^bpunishment,” declares Yahweh.⁴⁵“In the shadow of HeshbonThose who flee stand without strength;For a fire has gone forth from HeshbonAnd a ^aflame from the midst of ^bSihon,And it has devoured the ^ctop of the head of MoabAnd the scalps of ¹those who rumble.⁴⁶“^aWoe to you, Moab!The people of ^bChemosh have perished;For your sons have been taken away captiveAnd your daughters into captivity.⁴⁷“Yet I will ¹^,^areturn the ²fortunes of MoabIn the last days,” declares Yahweh.Thus far the judgment on Moab.