^(A)“For three transgressions of ^(B)Moab,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,^[a]
because ^(C)he burned to lime
    the bones of the king of Edom.

⁸ “I have heard ^(A)the taunts of Moab
    and ^(B)the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
    and made boasts ^(C)against their territory.
⁹ Therefore, ^(D)as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,
    the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become ^(E)like Sodom,
    and the Ammonites ^(F)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.”

“Woe to ^(B)Nebo, for it is laid waste!
    ^(C)Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken;
the fortress is put to shame ^(D)and broken down;
²     the renown of Moab is no more.
In ^(E)Heshbon they planned disaster against her:
    ‘Come, let us cut her off ^(F)from being a nation!’
You also, O ^(G)Madmen, shall be brought to silence;
    the sword shall pursue you.

³ “A voice! A cry from ^(H)Horonaim,
    ‘Desolation and great destruction!’
⁴ Moab is destroyed;
    her little ones have made a cry.
^5 (I)For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;^[a]
for ^(J)at the descent of Horonaim
    they have heard the distressed cry^[b] of destruction.
⁶ Flee! Save yourselves!
    You will be like ^(K)a juniper in the desert!
⁷ For, ^(L)because you trusted in your works and your treasures,
    you also shall be taken;
and ^(M)Chemosh ^(N)shall go into exile
    with ^(O)his priests and his officials.
^8 (P)The destroyer shall come upon every city,
    and no city shall escape;
the valley shall perish,
    and ^(Q)the plain shall be destroyed,
    as the Lord has spoken.

⁹ “Give wings to Moab,
    for she would fly away;
her cities shall become a desolation,
    with no inhabitant in them.

¹¹ “Moab has been at ease from his youth
    and has ^(T)settled on his dregs;
he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
    nor has he gone into exile;
so his taste remains in him,
    and his scent is not changed.

¹⁴ “How do you say, ‘We are heroes
    and mighty men of war’?
¹⁵ The destroyer of ^(X)Moab and his cities has come up,
    and the choicest of his young men have ^(Y)gone down to slaughter,
    declares ^(Z)the King, ^(AA)whose name is the Lord of hosts.
¹⁶ The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
    and his affliction hastens swiftly.
^17 (AB)Grieve for him, all you who are around him,
    and all who know his name;
say, ^(AC)‘How the mighty scepter is broken,
    the glorious staff.’

^18 (AD)“Come down from your glory,
    and sit on the parched ground,
    O inhabitant of ^(AE)Dibon!
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
    he has destroyed your strongholds.
^19 (AF)Stand by the way ^(AG)and watch,
    O inhabitant of ^(AH)Aroer!
Ask him who flees and her who escapes;
    say, ‘What has happened?’
²⁰ Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;
    ^(AI)wail and cry!
Tell it beside ^(AJ)the Arnon,
    that ^(AK)Moab is laid waste.

^28 (BC)“Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,
    O inhabitants of Moab!
Be ^(BD)like the dove that nests
    in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.
^29 (BE)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.
³⁰ I know his insolence, declares the Lord;
    ^(BF)his boasts are false,
    his deeds are false.
^31 (BG)Therefore I wail for Moab;
    I cry out for all Moab;
    for the men of ^(BH)Kir-hareseth I mourn.
³² More than for ^(BI)Jazer I weep for you,
    ^(BJ)O vine of ^(BK)Sibmah!
^(BL)Your branches passed over the sea,
    reached to the Sea of ^(BM)Jazer;
on your summer fruits and your grapes
    the destroyer has fallen.
^33 (BN)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.

⁴⁰ For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, ^(BZ)one shall fly swiftly like an eagle
    ^(CA)and spread his wings against Moab;
^41 (CB)the cities shall be taken
    and the strongholds seized.
^(CC)The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day
    like the heart of ^(CD)a woman in her birth pains;
⁴² Moab shall be ^(CE)destroyed and be no longer a people,
    because ^(CF)he magnified himself against the Lord.
^43 (CG)Terror, pit, and snare
    are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!
declares the Lord.
⁴⁴ He who flees from the terror
    shall fall into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit
    shall be caught in the snare.
^(CH)For I will bring these things upon Moab,
    the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.

⁴⁵ “In the shadow of Heshbon
    fugitives stop without strength,
for fire came out from Heshbon,
    flame from the house of Sihon;
it has destroyed ^(CI)the forehead of Moab,
    the crown of ^(CJ)the sons of tumult.
^46 (CK)Woe to you, O Moab!
    The people of ^(CL)Chemosh are undone,
for your sons have been taken captive,
    and your daughters into captivity.
^47 (CM)Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
    in the latter days, declares the Lord.”
Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

Because ^(C)Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone;
because ^(D)Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone.
² He has gone up to the temple,^[a] and to ^(E)Dibon,
    to the high places^[b] to weep;
over ^(F)Nebo and over ^(G)Medeba
    Moab ^(H)wails.
On every head is ^(I)baldness;
    every beard is shorn;
³ in the streets they wear sackcloth;
    on the housetops and in the squares
    everyone wails and melts in tears.
^4 (J)Heshbon and ^(K)Elealeh cry out;
    their voice is heard as far as ^(L)Jahaz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
    his soul trembles.
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab;
    her fugitives flee to Zoar,
    to ^(M)Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ^(N)ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;
on the road to ^(O)Horonaim
    they raise a cry of destruction;
⁶ the waters of ^(P)Nimrim
    are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,
    the greenery is no more.
^7 (Q)Therefore the abundance they have gained
    and what they have laid up
they carry away
    over the Brook of the Willows.
⁸ For a cry has gone
    around the land of Moab;
her wailing reaches to Eglaim;
    her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
⁹ For the waters of ^(R)Dibon^[c] are full of blood;
    for I will bring upon Dibon even more,
^(S)a lion for those of Moab who escape,
    for the remnant of the land.

^(A)“For three transgressions of Judah,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because ^(B)they have rejected the law of the Lord,
    and have not kept his statutes,
but ^(C)their lies have led them astray,
    those after which their fathers walked.

^(A)“For three transgressions of ^(B)Damascus,
    and for four, ^(C)I will not revoke the punishment,^[a]
because they have threshed ^(D)Gilead
    with threshing sledges of iron.