Jeremiah 48

Revised Standard Version

³ “Hark! a cry from Horona′im,
    ‘Desolation and great destruction!’
⁴ Moab is destroyed;
    a cry is heard as far as Zo′ar.^[a]
5 For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;^[b]
for at the descent of Horona′im
    they have heard the cry^[c] of destruction.
⁶ Flee! Save yourselves!
    Be like a wild ass^[d] in the desert!
⁷ For, because you trusted in your strongholds^[e] and your treasures,
    you also shall be taken;
and Chemosh shall go forth into exile,
    with his priests and his princes.
⁸ The destroyer shall come upon every city,
    and no city shall escape;
the valley shall perish,
    and 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 settled on his lees;
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 Moab and his cities has come up,
    and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,
    says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
¹⁶ The calamity of Moab is near at hand
    and his affliction hastens apace.
¹⁷ Bemoan him, all you who are round about him,
    and all who know his name;
say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken,
    the glorious staff.’

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

²⁸ “Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,
    O inhabitants of Moab!
Be like the dove that nests
    in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.
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.
³⁰ I know his insolence, says the Lord;
    his boasts are false,
    his deeds are false.
³¹ Therefore I wail for Moab;
    I cry out for all Moab;
    for the men of Kir-he′res I mourn.
³² More than for Jazer I weep for you,
    O vine of Sibmah!
Your branches passed over the sea,
    reached as far as Jazer;^[g]
upon your summer fruits and your vintage
    the destroyer has fallen.
³³ Gladness and joy have been taken away
    from the fruitful land of Moab;
I have made the wine cease from the wine presses;
    no one treads them with shouts of joy;
    the shouting is not the shout of joy.

⁴⁵ “In the shadow of Heshbon
    fugitives stop without strength;
for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon,
    a flame from the house of Sihon;
it has destroyed the forehead of Moab,
    the crown of the sons of tumult.
⁴⁶ Woe to you, O Moab!
    The people of Chemosh is undone;
for your sons have been taken captive,
    and your daughters into captivity.
⁴⁷ Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
    in the latter days, says the Lord.”
Thus far is the judgment on Moab.