Jeremiah 48:28-47
Complete Jewish Bible
28 You who live in Mo’av,
leave the cities, and live on the rocks;
be like the dove who makes her nest
in a hole in the rock at the mouth of a cave.
29 We have heard of the pride of Mo’av:
so very proud he is! —
presumptuous, proud, conceited;
so haughty his heart!
30 “I know what meager ground he has
for his arrogance,” says Adonai.
“His boasting has nothing behind it,
and it hasn’t accomplished a thing.”
31 Therefore I wail for Mo’av;
for all Mo’av I cry;
for the people of Kir-Heres I lament.
32 I will weep for you, vineyard of Sivmah,
more than I wept for Ya‘zer.
Your branches spread to the sea,
reaching as far as the sea of Ya‘zer.
On your summer fruits and on your vintage
the destroyer has fallen.
33 Gladness and joy have been removed
from productive fields and the land of Mo’av.
“I have stopped the flow of wine from the vats
and the shouts of those who tread the grapes —
those shouts of joy are stilled.”
34 The cries from Heshbon to El‘aleh
are heard as far away as Yachatz;
those from Tzo‘ar to Horonayim
are heard in ‘Eglat-Shlishiyah;
for even the waters of Nimrim
have become a desolate waste.
35 “Moreover,” says Adonai,
“in Mo’av I will put an end
to anyone sacrificing on a high place
or offering incense to his gods.”
36 This is why my heart is moaning
for Mo’av like funeral flutes,
why my heart moans for the men
of Kir-Heres like funeral flutes;
for the wealth they produced has vanished.
37 Every head has been shaved bald,
every beard has been clipped short,
gashes are on every hand,
sackcloth around every waist.
38 On all the housetops of Mo’av
and in its open places —
lamentation everywhere!
“For I have broken Mo’av like a pot
that nobody wants,” says Adonai.
39 Wail, “How shattered is Mo’av!
How shamefully in retreat!”
Thus will Mo’av become an object
of ridicule and distress to all its neighbors.
40 For here is what Adonai says:
“Look! Down he swoops like a vulture,
spreading his wings against Mo’av —
41 the cities are captured, the strongholds are seized.
On that day the hearts of Mo’av’s warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
42 Mo’av will be destroyed as a people,
because he boasted against Adonai.
43 Terror, pit and trap are upon you,
people of Mo’av,” says Adonai.
44 “Whoever flees from the terror
will fall into the pit;
and he who climbs up out of the pit
will be caught in the trap.
For I will bring on her, on Mo’av,
the year for her punishment,” says Adonai.
45 “In the shadow of Heshbon
the fugitives stop, exhausted.
For fire breaks out from Heshbon,
a flame from inside Sichon,
consuming the sides and tops of the heads
of Mo’av’s noisy boasters.
46 Woe to you, Mo’av!
K’mosh’s people are doomed!
For your sons have been taken captive,
and your daughters led into captivity.
47 Yet I will end Mo’av’s exile
in the acharit-hayamim,” says Adonai.
This is the judgment on Mo’av.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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