JEREMIAH
CHAPTER 48

A Message About Moab

¹ Concerning Moab:

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

"Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined.
Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured;
the stronghold ^[1] will be disgraced and shattered.
² Moab will be praised no more;
in Heshbon ^[2] men will plot her downfall:
'Come, let us put an end to that nation.'
You too, O Madmen, ^[3] will be silenced;
the sword will pursue you.
³ Listen to the cries from Horonaim,
cries of great havoc and destruction.
⁴ Moab will be broken;
her little ones will cry out. ^[4]
5 They go up the way to Luhith,
weeping bitterly as they go;
on the road down to Horonaim
anguished cries over the destruction are heard.
⁶ Flee! Run for your lives;
become like a bush ^[5] in the desert.
⁷ Since you trust in your deeds and riches,
you too will be taken captive,
and Chemosh will go into exile,
together with his priests and officials.
⁸ The destroyer will come against every town,
and not a town will escape.
The valley will be ruined
and the plateau destroyed,
because the LORD has spoken.
⁹ Put salt on Moab,
for she will be laid waste ^[6] ;
her towns will become desolate,
with no one to live in them.

¹⁰ "A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD's work!
A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!

¹¹ "Moab has been at rest from youth,
like wine left on its dregs,
not poured from one jar to another-
she has not gone into exile.
So she tastes as she did,
and her aroma is unchanged.
¹² But days are coming,"
declares the LORD ,
"when I will send men who pour from jars,
and they will pour her out;
they will empty her jars
and smash her jugs.
¹³ Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,
as the house of Israel was ashamed
when they trusted in Bethel.

¹⁴ "How can you say, 'We are warriors,
men valiant in battle'?
¹⁵ Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded;
her finest young men will go down in the slaughter,"
declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.
¹⁶ "The fall of Moab is at hand;
her calamity will come quickly.
¹⁷ Mourn for her, all who live around her,
all who know her fame;
say, 'How broken is the mighty scepter,
how broken the glorious staff!'

¹⁸ "Come down from your glory
and sit on the parched ground,
O inhabitants of the Daughter of Dibon,
for he who destroys Moab
will come up against you
and ruin your fortified cities.
¹⁹ Stand by the road and watch,
you who live in Aroer.
Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping,
ask them, 'What has happened?'
²⁰ Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered.
Wail and cry out!
Announce by the Arnon
that Moab is destroyed.
²¹ Judgment has come to the plateau-
to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath,
²² to Dibon, Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,
²³ to Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,
²⁴ to Kerioth and Bozrah-
to all the towns of Moab, far and near.
²⁵ Moab's horn ^[7] is cut off;
her arm is broken,"
declares the LORD .

²⁶ "Make her drunk,
for she has defied the LORD .
Let Moab wallow in her vomit;
let her be an object of ridicule.
²⁷ Was not Israel the object of your ridicule?
Was she caught among thieves,
that you shake your head in scorn
whenever you speak of her?
²⁸ Abandon your towns and dwell among the rocks,
you who live in Moab.
Be like a dove that makes its nest
at the mouth of a cave.

²⁹ "We have heard of Moab's pride-
her overweening pride and conceit,
her pride and arrogance
and the haughtiness of her heart.
³⁰ I know her insolence but it is futile,"
declares the LORD ,
"and her boasts accomplish nothing.
³¹ Therefore I wail over Moab,
for all Moab I cry out,
I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth.
³² I weep for you, as Jazer weeps,
O vines of Sibmah.
Your branches spread as far as the sea;
they reached as far as the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen
on your ripened fruit and grapes.
³³ Joy and gladness are gone
from the orchards and fields of Moab.
I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses;
no one treads them with shouts of joy.
Although there are shouts,
they are not shouts of joy.

³⁴ "The sound of their cry rises
from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz,
from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah,
for even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.
³⁵ In Moab I will put an end
to those who make offerings on the high places
and burn incense to their gods,"
declares the LORD .
³⁶ "So my heart laments for Moab like a flute;
it laments like a flute for the men of Kir Hareseth.
The wealth they acquired is gone.
³⁷ Every head is shaved
and every beard cut off;
every hand is slashed
and every waist is covered with sackcloth.
³⁸ On all the roofs in Moab
and in the public squares
there is nothing but mourning,
for I have broken Moab
like a jar that no one wants,"
declares the LORD .
³⁹ "How shattered she is! How they wail!
How Moab turns her back in shame!
Moab has become an object of ridicule,
an object of horror to all those around her."

⁴⁰ This is what the LORD says:

"Look! An eagle is swooping down,
spreading its wings over Moab.
⁴¹ Kerioth ^[8] will be captured
and the strongholds taken.
In that day the hearts of Moab's warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
⁴² Moab will be destroyed as a nation
because she defied the LORD .
⁴³ Terror and pit and snare await you,
O people of Moab,"
declares the LORD .
⁴⁴ "Whoever flees from the terror
will fall into a pit,
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare;
for I will bring upon Moab
the year of her punishment,"
declares the LORD .

⁴⁵ "In the shadow of Heshbon
the fugitives stand helpless,
for a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
a blaze from the midst of Sihon;
it burns the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls of the noisy boasters.
⁴⁶ Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh are destroyed;
your sons are taken into exile
and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷ "Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in days to come,"
declares the LORD .

Here ends the judgment on Moab.

Footnotes

1. 48:1 Or / Misgab
2. 48:2 The Hebrew for Heshbon sounds like the Hebrew for plot .
3. 48:2 The name of the Moabite town Madmen sounds like the Hebrew for be silenced .
4. 48:4 Hebrew; Septuagint / proclaim it to Zoar
5. 48:6 Or like Aroer
6. 48:9 Or Give wings to Moab, / for she will fly away
7. 48:25 Horn here symbolizes strength.
8. 48:41 Or The cities

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Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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