An Oracle Concerning Moab

15 An (A)oracle concerning (B)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.
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;
in the streets they wear sackcloth;
    on the housetops and in the squares
    everyone wails and melts in tears.
(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.
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;
the waters of (P)Nimrim
    are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,
    the greenery is no more.
(Q)Therefore the abundance they have gained
    and what they have laid up
they carry away
    over the Brook of the Willows.
For a cry has gone
    around the land of Moab;
her wailing reaches to Eglaim;
    her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
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.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 15:2 Hebrew the house
  2. Isaiah 15:2 Or temple, even Dibon to the high places
  3. Isaiah 15:9 Dead Sea Scroll, Vulgate (compare Syriac); Masoretic Text Dimon; twice in this verse

Oracle of Judgment on Moab

15 An oracle of Moab:

Because Ar is devastated in a night, Moab is destroyed;
    because Kir of Moab is devastated in a night, it is destroyed.
It has gone up to the house,[a]
    and Dibon to the high places
for weeping over Nebo,
    and Moab wails over Medeba.
Every head is bald,[b]
    every beard is shaved.
They gird themselves with sackcloth in its streets;
    on its roofs and public squares everyone wails,
        going down in weeping.
And Heshbon and Elealeh cry[c] out,
    their voice is heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the armed ones of Moab cry out;
    its soul quivers[d] for him.
My heart cries out for Moab;
    its fugitives flee up to Zoar,
    to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith it goes up it with weeping;
    for on the road of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.
For the waters of Nimrim are wastelands;
    for the grass has withered,
the vegetation has vanished,
    there is no greenness.
Therefore they carry the abundance it has made
    and their store of goods over the river of the poplars.
For a cry for help has encircled the territory of Moab,
    her wailing is heard as far as Eglaim,
    and her wailing as far as Beer Elim.
For the waters of Dimon[e] are full of blood;
    but I will place added things upon Dimon:
a lion for the survivors[f] of Moab
    and for the remnant of the land.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 15:2 Or “temple”
  2. Isaiah 15:2 Literally “On all its heads baldness”
  3. Isaiah 15:4 The Hebrew is singular
  4. Isaiah 15:4 The Hebrew words for “cry out” and “quiver” are similar
  5. Isaiah 15:9 One of the Dead Sea Scrolls reads “Dibon” here
  6. Isaiah 15:9 Hebrew “survivor”