2 Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Moab,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,^[a]
because he burned to lime
    the bones of the king of Edom.^(A)

⁸ I have heard the taunts of Moab
    and the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
    and made boasts against their territory.^(A)
9 Therefore, as I live, says the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel,
Moab shall become like Sodom
    and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,
a land possessed by nettles and salt pits
    and a waste forever.
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
    and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.^(B)

³ Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Damascus,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,^[a]
because they have threshed Gilead
    with threshing sledges of iron.^(A)

Alas for Nebo, it is laid waste!
    Kiriathaim is put to shame; it is taken;
the fortress is put to shame and broken down;^(A)
2     the renown of Moab is no more.
In Heshbon they planned evil against her:
    “Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!”
You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;^[a]
    the sword shall pursue you.^(B)

³ Listen! A cry goes up from Horonaim:
    “Desolation and great destruction!”^(C)
4 “Moab is destroyed!”
    her little ones cry out.
⁵ For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go^[b] up weeping bitterly;
for at the descent of Horonaim
    they have heard the distressing cry of anguish.^(D)
6 Flee! Save yourselves!
    Be like a wild ass^[c] in the desert!^(E)

⁷ Surely, because you trusted in your strongholds^[d] and your treasures,
    you also shall be taken;
Chemosh shall go out into exile,
    with his priests and his attendants.^(F)
8 The destroyer shall come upon every town,
    and no town shall escape;
the valley shall perish,
    and the plain shall be destroyed,
    as the Lord has spoken.^(G)

⁹ Set aside salt for Moab,
    for she will surely fall;
her towns shall become a desolation,
    with no inhabitant in them.^(H)

¹¹ Moab has been at ease from his youth,
    settled like wine^[e] on its dregs;
he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
    nor has he gone into exile;
therefore his flavor has remained,
    and his aroma is unspoiled.^(J)

¹⁴ How can you say, “We are heroes
    and mighty warriors”?^(L)
15 Moab is destroyed, and his towns have gone up,
    and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,
    says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.^(M)
16 The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
    and his doom approaches swiftly.^(N)
17 Mourn over him, all you his neighbors,
    and all who know his name;
say, “How the mighty scepter is broken,
    the glorious staff!”^(O)

¹⁸ Come down from glory
    and sit on the parched ground,
    enthroned daughter Dibon!
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
    he has destroyed your strongholds.^(P)
19 Stand by the road and watch,
    you inhabitant of Aroer!
Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping;
    say, “What has happened?”^(Q)
20 Moab is put to shame, for it is broken down;
    wail and cry!
Tell it by the Arnon
    that Moab is laid waste.^(R)

²⁸ Leave the towns, and live on the rock,
    O inhabitants of Moab!
Be like the dove that nests
    on the sides of the mouth of a gorge.^(W)
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.^(X)
30 I myself know his insolence, says the Lord;
    his boasts are false;
    his deeds are false.^(Y)
31 Therefore I wail for Moab;
    I cry out for all Moab;
    for the people of Kir-heres I mourn.^(Z)
32 More than for Jazer I weep for you,
    O vine of Sibmah!
Your branches crossed over the sea,
    reached as far as Jazer;^[f]
upon your summer fruits and your vintage
    the destroyer has fallen.^(AA)
33 Gladness and joy have been taken away
    from the fruitful land of Moab;
I have stopped the wine from the winepresses;
    no one treads them with shouts of joy;
    the shouting is not the shout of joy.^(AB)

⁴⁰ For thus says the Lord:
Look, he shall swoop down like an eagle
    and spread his wings against Moab;^(AI)
41 the towns^[g] shall be taken
    and the strongholds seized.
The hearts of the warriors of Moab, on that day,
    shall be like the heart of a woman in labor.^(AJ)
42 Moab shall be destroyed as a people,
    because he magnified himself against the Lord.^(AK)
43 Terror, pit, and trap
    are before you, O inhabitants of Moab!
            says the Lord.^(AL)
44 Everyone who flees from the terror
    shall fall into the pit,
and everyone who climbs out of the pit
    shall be caught in the trap.
For I will bring these things^[h] upon Moab
    in the year of their punishment,
            says the Lord.^(AM)

⁴⁵ In the shadow of Heshbon
    fugitives stop exhausted,
for a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
    a flame from the house of Sihon;
it has destroyed the forehead^[i] of Moab,
    the scalp of the people of tumult.^[j](AN)
46 Woe to you, O Moab!
    The people of Chemosh have perished,
for your sons have been taken captive
    and your daughters into captivity.^(AO)
47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
    in the latter days, says the Lord.
Thus far is the judgment on Moab.^(AP)

The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place
    as straw is trodden down in the manure.^(A)

Because Ar is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone;
because Kir is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone.^(A)
2 Daughter Dibon^[a] has gone up
    to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Medeba
    Moab wails.
Every head is shaved;
    every beard is shorn;^(B)
3 in the streets they bind on sackcloth;
    on the housetops and in the squares
    everyone wails and melts in tears.^(C)
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
    their voices are heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the loins of Moab quiver;^[b]
    his soul trembles.
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab;
    his fugitives flee to Zoar,
    to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;
on the road to Horonaim
    they raise a cry of destruction;^(D)
6 the waters of Nimrim
    are a desolation;
the grass is withered; the new growth fails;
    vegetation is no more.^(E)
7 Therefore the abundance they have gained
    and what they have laid up
they carry away
    over the Wadi of the Willows.^(F)
8 For a cry has gone
    around the land of Moab;
the wailing reaches to Eglaim;
    the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
⁹ For the waters of Dibon^[c] are full of blood,
    yet I will bring upon Dibon^[d] even more—
a lion for those of Moab who escape,
    for the remnant of the land.^(G)