Jeremiah 48:16-43
English Standard Version
Chapter 48
16The 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 broken, 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?’ 20Moab is put to shame, for it is broken; wail and cry! Tell it beside the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. 21"Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, 22and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, 24and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. 25The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the Lord.
26"Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the Lord, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision.
27Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?
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 We 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.
30I 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.
32More 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.
34"From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate.
35And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the Lord, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god.
36Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished.
37"For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth.
38On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the Lord.
39How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him."
40For thus says the Lord: "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;
42Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people, because he magnified himself against the Lord.
43 Terror, pit, and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab! declares the Lord.
