Jeremiah 48
English Standard Version
Judgment on Moab
48 (A)Concerning Moab.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
“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.
10 (R)“Cursed is he who does (S)the work of the Lord with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.
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.
12 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his[c] jars in pieces. 13 Then (U)Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as (V)the house of Israel was ashamed of (W)Bethel, their confidence.
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.
21 “Judgment has come upon (AL)the tableland, upon Holon, and (AM)Jahzah, and Mephaath, 22 and (AN)Dibon, and (AO)Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23 and (AP)Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and (AQ)Beth-meon, 24 and (AR)Kerioth, and (AS)Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. 25 (AT)The horn of Moab is cut off, and (AU)his arm is broken, declares the Lord.
26 (AV)“Make him drunk, (AW)because he magnified himself against the Lord, so that Moab shall (AX)wallow in his vomit, (AY)and he too shall be held in derision. 27 (AZ)Was not Israel a derision to you? (BA)Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him (BB)you wagged your head?
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.
34 (BO)“From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to (BP)Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate. 35 And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the Lord, him who offers sacrifice in (BQ)the high place and makes offerings to his god. 36 Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of (BR)Kir-hareseth. (BS)Therefore the riches they gained have perished.
37 (BT)“For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. (BU)On all the hands are gashes, and (BV)around the waist is sackcloth. 38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like (BW)a vessel for which no one cares, declares the Lord. 39 How it is broken! How they wail! (BX)How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab (BY)has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him.”
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.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 48:5 Hebrew weeping goes up with weeping
- Jeremiah 48:5 Septuagint (compare Isaiah 15:5) heard the cry
- Jeremiah 48:12 Septuagint, Aquila; Hebrew their
Jeremiah 48
Common English Bible
Prophecy against Moab
48 Concerning Moab:
The Lord of heavenly forces,
the God of Israel, proclaims:
How awful for Nebo;
it lies in ruins.
Kirathaim is captured and shamed;
the fortress is disgraced,
reduced to rubble.
2 No one sings Moab’s praise any longer!
In Heshbon they are hatching
a plot against her:
“Come, let’s bring down the nation!”
You too, Madmen, will be silenced;
the sword will pursue you.
3 Listen to the cries for help from Horonaim:
“Destruction and massive devastation!”
4 Moab is shattered;
its young cry for help.
5 On the way up to Luhith,
there is uncontrollable weeping.
On the way down to Horonaim,
they hear sobs of anguish.
6 Run for your lives!
Be like Aroer[a] in the desert.
7 Because you have relied
on your own strength and treasures,
you also will be captured.
Chemosh will go into exile,
together with his priests and officials.
8 The destroyer will sweep through every town;
no town will escape.
The valleys will be ravaged;
the plateaus will be destroyed,
because the Lord has declared it so.
9 Give wings to Moab,
and it would fly away[b]
because its towns lie in ruins,
with no one left in them.
10 Cursed is the one who is halfhearted
in doing the Lord’s work.
Cursed is the one who restrains
the sword from bloodshed.
11 From early on Moab has been at ease,
like wine[c] left to settle on its sediment.
It hasn’t been poured into jars;
nor has Moab been taken into exile.
Therefore, its taste is still pleasant,
and its aroma is the same.
12 But the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will send to him someone to spill it—to pour out his wine and to smash his jars. 13 And Moab will be put to shame on account of Chemosh, just as the people of Israel were put to shame on account of Bethel, in which they trusted.[d]
14 How can you claim,
“We’re soldiers; we’re war heroes”?
15 Moab is doomed;
its towns will surrender;[e]
its elite forces will go down in defeat,
declares the king whose name is the Lord of heavenly forces.
16 Moab’s destruction is near;
its downfall approaches rapidly.
17 Grieve for this nation,
you neighbors of Moab,
all you who know his name.
Proclaim how its mighty scepter
and magnificent staff are shattered!
18 Come down from your lofty place
and sit in the dust,[f]
you inhabitants of Daughter Dibon;[g]
because Moab’s destroyer
has arrived to level your fortresses.
19 Stand by the roads and watch,
you inhabitants of Aroer.
Ask the men who flee
and the women who run off,
“What’s happened?”
20 Moab is shamed and shocked;
weep and wail!
Tell it by the Arnon River:
Moab’s been destroyed!
21 Judgment has come to the towns of 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 is cut off;
its arm is broken,
declares the Lord.
26 Get Moab drunk,
because it has exalted itself above the Lord.
Moab will collapse in its vomit
and become the butt of every joke.
27 Wasn’t Israel the butt of your jokes?
Didn’t you shake your head
as if they were thieves
caught in the act?
28 Leave your towns, head for the cliffs,
you people of Moab.
Hide like a dove
that nests in the mouth of a cave.
29 We have heard of Moab’s pride:
arrogant, puffed up, exalted,
high and mighty, boastful!
30 I myself know about its arrogance,
declares the Lord,
the idle talk, the empty deeds.
31 But I’ll still wail for Moab;
I’ll cry out for all Moab;
I’ll[h] sob for the people of Kir-heres.
32 I’ll weep for you, vine of Sibmah,
more than I would for Jazer.
Though your branches extended to the sea
and reached the coast of Jazer,
now the destroyer has come
to harvest your grapes and summer fruits.
33 Joy and gladness have been taken
from the orchards and farms of Moab.
I have stopped making wine in the presses.
No one shouts with joy
while treading the grapes.
Though there are shouts,
they are not shouts of joy![i]
34 Screams are heard from Heshbon
to Elealeh and Jahaz;
their cries resound from Zoar
to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah.
Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.
35 I’ll put an end to Moab,
declares the Lord,
for making offerings on the shrines,
and worshipping their gods.
36 Therefore, my heart wails for Moab
like a mournful[j] flute that plays the dirge;
my heart wails for the people of Kir-heres,
like a mournful flute.
Their abundance is now gone.
37 Every head is shaved,
every beard is cut off,
every hand is slashed,
and everyone wears mourning clothes.
38 On every housetop of Moab
and in all its streets,
there’s nothing but mourning.
I have shattered Moab
like a pottery vessel no one wants,
declares the Lord.
39 How it’s shattered! Go wail!
How Moab turns away!
What shame!
Moab has become the butt of every joke,
horrific to all its neighbors.
40 The Lord proclaims:
Look! One who soars like an eagle
and spreads its wings over Moab.
41 The towns will be captured;
the strongholds will be seized.
On that day, the heart of every soldier from Moab
will be like that of a woman in the throes of labor.
42 Moab will be destroyed once and for all
because it has exalted itself above the Lord.
43 Terror, traps, and trackers[k]
are upon you, people of Moab,
declares the Lord.
44 Those who flee from terror
will fall into a pit;
those who escape the pit
will be captured by the trap.
I will bring upon Moab
the year of its punishment,
declares the Lord.
45 In Heshbon tired refugees seek shelter.
But fire is raging in Heshbon,
flames from the house[l] of Sihon.
It has burned up part of Moab,
including the leader of this rebellious nation.[m]
46 How terrible for you, Moab;
the people of Chemosh have perished.
Your sons have been carried off;
your daughters have been taken captive.
47 But in the days to come
I’ll bring back Moab from captivity,
declares the Lord.
Such is the judgment on Moab.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 48:6 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 48:9 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 48:11 Heb lacks like wine.
- Jeremiah 48:13 Or And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh just as the people of Israel were ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted.
- Jeremiah 48:15 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 48:18 Or thirst
- Jeremiah 48:18 Heb uncertain, or residing Daughter Dibon
- Jeremiah 48:31 Or He
- Jeremiah 48:33 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 48:36 Heb lacks mournful.
- Jeremiah 48:43 Or terror, pit, and trap
- Jeremiah 48:45 Heb manuscripts; MT from among
- Jeremiah 48:45 Heb uncertain
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible