Jeremiah 48
Christian Standard Bible
Prophecies against Moab
48 About Moab,(A) this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says:
Woe to Nebo,(B) because it is about to be destroyed;
Kiriathaim will be put to shame;(C) it will be taken captive.
The fortress will be put to shame and dismayed!
2 There is no longer praise for Moab;
they plan harm against her in Heshbon:(D)
Come, let’s cut her off from nationhood.
Also, Madmen, you will be silenced;
the sword will follow(E) you.
3 A voice cries out from Horonaim,(F)
“devastation and a crushing blow!” (G)
4 Moab will be shattered;
her little ones will cry out.
5 For on the Ascent to Luhith
they will be weeping continually,[a]
and on the descent to Horonaim
will be heard cries of distress over the destruction:(H)
6 Flee! Save your lives!(I)
Be like a juniper bush[b](J) in the wilderness.
7 Because you trust in your works and treasures,
you will be captured also.
Chemosh(K) will go into exile
with his priests and officials.(L)
8 The destroyer(M) will move against every town;
not one town will escape.
The valley will perish,
and the plain will be annihilated,(N)
as the Lord has said.
9 Make Moab a salt marsh,[c](O)
for she will run away;[d]
her towns will become a desolation,
without inhabitant.(P)
10 The one who does
the Lord’s business deceitfully[e] is cursed,(Q)
and the one who withholds
his sword from bloodshed is cursed.
11 Moab has been left quiet since his youth,
settled like wine on its dregs.(R)
He hasn’t been poured from one container to another
or gone into exile.
So his taste has remained the same,
and his aroma hasn’t changed.
12 Therefore look, the days are coming(S)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when I will send pourers to him, who will pour him out.
They will empty his containers
and smash his jars.
13 Moab will be put to shame because of Chemosh,
just as the house of Israel was put to shame
because of Bethel(T) that they trusted in.
14 How can you say, “We are warriors—
valiant men for battle”?
15 The destroyer of Moab and its towns
has come up,[f]
and the best of its young men
have gone down to slaughter.
This is the King’s declaration;
the Lord of Armies is his name.(U)
16 Moab’s calamity is near at hand;
his disaster is rushing swiftly.
17 Mourn for him, all you surrounding nations,
everyone who knows his name.
Say, “How the mighty scepter(V) is shattered,
the glorious staff!”
18 Come down from glory; sit on parched ground,
resident of the daughter of Dibon,(W)
for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;
he has destroyed your fortresses.
19 Stand by the highway and watch,
resident of Aroer!(X)
Ask him who is fleeing or her who is escaping,(Y)
“What happened?”
20 Moab is put to shame, indeed dismayed.
Wail and cry out!(Z)
Declare by the Arnon
that Moab is destroyed.
21 “Judgment has come to the land of the plateau(AA)—to Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath, 22 Dibon, Nebo, Beth-diblathaim, 23 Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, Beth-meon,(AB) 24 Kerioth,(AC) Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, those far and near. 25 Moab’s horn is chopped off;(AD) his arm is shattered.”(AE)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
26 “Make him drunk, because he has exalted himself against the Lord.(AF) Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock. 27 Wasn’t Israel a laughingstock to you?(AG) Was he ever found among thieves?(AH) For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.”(AI)
28 Abandon the towns! Live in the cliffs,
residents of Moab!
Be like a dove
that nests inside the mouth of a cave.(AJ)
29 We have heard of Moab’s pride,
great pride, indeed—
his insolence, arrogance, pride,
and haughty heart.
30 I know his outburst.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
It is empty.
His boast is empty.
31 Therefore, I will wail over Moab.
I will cry out for Moab, all of it;
he will moan for the men of Kir-heres.
32 I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah,
with more than the weeping for Jazer.
Your tendrils have extended to the sea;
they have reached to the sea and to Jazer.[g]
The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit and grape harvest.
33 Gladness and celebration are taken from the fertile field
and from the land of Moab.
I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses;
no one will tread with shouts of joy.
The shouting is not a shout of joy.(AK)
34 “There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they make their voices heard as far as Jahaz(AL)—from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah—because even the Waters of Nimrim have become desolate. 35 In Moab, I will stop”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the one who offers sacrifices on the high place and burns incense to his gods.(AM) 36 Therefore, my heart moans like flutes for Moab,(AN) and my heart moans like flutes for the people of Kir-heres. And therefore, the wealth he has gained has perished. 37 Indeed, every head is bald and every beard is chopped short.(AO) On every hand is a gash(AP) and sackcloth(AQ) around the waist. 38 On all the rooftops of Moab and in her public squares, everyone is mourning because I have shattered Moab like a jar no one wants.”(AR) This is the Lord’s declaration. 39 “How broken it is! They wail! How Moab has turned his back! He is ashamed. Moab will become a laughingstock and a shock to all those around him.”(AS)
40 For this is what the Lord says:
Look! He will swoop down like an eagle
and spread his wings against Moab.(AT)
41 The towns have[h] been captured,
and the strongholds seized.
In that day the heart of Moab’s warriors
will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.(AU)
42 Moab will be destroyed as a people
because he has exalted himself against the Lord.(AV)
43 Panic,(AW) pit, and trap
await you, resident of Moab.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
44 He who flees from the panic will fall in the pit,
and he who climbs from the pit
will be captured in the trap,
for I will bring against Moab
the year of their punishment.(AX)
This is the Lord’s declaration.(AY)
45 Those who flee will stand exhausted in Heshbon’s shadow
because fire has come out from Heshbon
and a flame from within Sihon.
It will devour Moab’s forehead
and the skull of the noisemakers.
46 Woe to you, Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished
because your sons have been taken captive
and your daughters have gone into captivity.(AZ)
47 Yet, I will restore the fortunes[i] of Moab in the last days.(BA)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
The judgment on Moab ends here.
Footnotes
- 48:5 Lit Luhith, weeping goes up with weeping
- 48:6 Or like Aroer; Is 17:2; Jr 48:19
- 48:9 LXX reads a sign; Vg reads a flower; Syr, Tg read a crown
- 48:9 Hb obscure
- 48:10 Or negligently
- 48:15 Or Moab is destroyed; he has come up against its cities
- 48:32 Some Hb mss read reached as far as Jazer
- 48:41 Or Kerioth has
- 48:47 Or will end the captivity
Jeremiah 48
New Living Translation
A Message about Moab
48 This message was given concerning Moab. This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says:
“What sorrow awaits the city of Nebo;
it will soon lie in ruins.
The city of Kiriathaim will be humiliated and captured;
the fortress will be humiliated and broken down.
2 No one will ever brag about Moab again,
for in Heshbon there is a plot to destroy her.
‘Come,’ they say, ‘we will cut her off from being a nation.’
The town of Madmen,[a] too, will be silenced;
the sword will follow you there.
3 Listen to the cries from Horonaim,
cries of devastation and great destruction.
4 All Moab is destroyed.
Her little ones will cry out.[b]
5 Her refugees weep bitterly,
climbing the slope to Luhith.
They cry out in terror,
descending the slope to Horonaim.
6 Flee for your lives!
Hide[c] in the wilderness!
7 Because you have trusted in your wealth and skill,
you will be taken captive.
Your god Chemosh, with his priests and officials,
will be hauled off to distant lands!
8 “All the towns will be destroyed,
and no one will escape—
either on the plateaus or in the valleys,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 Oh, that Moab had wings
so she could fly away,[d]
for her towns will be left empty,
with no one living in them.
10 Cursed are those who refuse to do the Lord’s work,
who hold back their swords from shedding blood!
11 “From his earliest history, Moab has lived in peace,
never going into exile.
He is like wine that has been allowed to settle.
He has not been poured from flask to flask,
and he is now fragrant and smooth.
12 But the time is coming soon,” says the Lord,
“when I will send men to pour him from his jar.
They will pour him out,
then shatter the jar!
13 At last Moab will be ashamed of his idol Chemosh,
as the people of Israel were ashamed of their gold calf at Bethel.[e]
14 “You used to boast, ‘We are heroes,
mighty men of war.’
15 But now Moab and his towns will be destroyed.
His most promising youth are doomed to slaughter,”
says the King, whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
16 “Destruction is coming fast for Moab;
calamity threatens ominously.
17 You friends of Moab,
weep for him and cry!
See how the strong scepter is broken,
how the beautiful staff is shattered!
18 “Come down from your glory
and sit in the dust, you people of Dibon,
for those who destroy Moab will shatter Dibon, too.
They will tear down all your towers.
19 You people of Aroer,
stand beside the road and watch.
Shout to those who flee from Moab,
‘What has happened there?’
20 “And the reply comes back,
‘Moab lies in ruins, disgraced;
weep and wail!
Tell it by the banks of the Arnon River:
Moab has been destroyed!’
21 Judgment has been poured out on the towns of the plateau—
on Holon and Jahaz[f] and Mephaath,
22 on Dibon and Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,
23 on Kiriathaim and Beth-gamul and Beth-meon,
24 on Kerioth and Bozrah—
all the towns of Moab, far and near.
25 “The strength of Moab has ended.
His arm has been broken,” says the Lord.
26 “Let him stagger and fall like a drunkard,
for he has rebelled against the Lord.
Moab will wallow in his own vomit,
ridiculed by all.
27 Did you not ridicule the people of Israel?
Were they caught in the company of thieves
that you should despise them as you do?
28 “You people of Moab,
flee from your towns and live in the caves.
Hide like doves that nest
in the clefts of the rocks.
29 We have all heard of the pride of Moab,
for his pride is very great.
We know of his lofty pride,
his arrogance, and his haughty heart.
30 I know about his insolence,”
says the Lord,
“but his boasts are empty—
as empty as his deeds.
31 So now I wail for Moab;
yes, I will mourn for Moab.
My heart is broken for the men of Kir-hareseth.[g]
32 “You people of Sibmah, rich in vineyards,
I will weep for you even more than I did for Jazer.
Your spreading vines once reached as far as the Dead Sea,[h]
but the destroyer has stripped you bare!
He has harvested your grapes and summer fruits.
33 Joy and gladness are gone from fruitful Moab.
The presses yield no wine.
No one treads the grapes with shouts of joy.
There is shouting, yes, but not of joy.
34 “Instead, their awful cries of terror can be heard from Heshbon clear across to Elealeh and Jahaz; from Zoar all the way to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up now.
35 “I will put an end to Moab,” says the Lord, “for the people offer sacrifices at the pagan shrines and burn incense to their false gods. 36 My heart moans like a flute for Moab and Kir-hareseth, for all their wealth has disappeared. 37 The people shave their heads and beards in mourning. They slash their hands and put on clothes made of burlap. 38 There is crying and sorrow in every Moabite home and on every street. For I have smashed Moab like an old, unwanted jar. 39 How it is shattered! Hear the wailing! See the shame of Moab! It has become an object of ridicule, an example of ruin to all its neighbors.”
40 This is what the Lord says:
“Look! The enemy swoops down like an eagle,
spreading his wings over Moab.
41 Its cities will fall,
and its strongholds will be seized.
Even the mightiest warriors will be in anguish
like a woman in labor.
42 Moab will no longer be a nation,
for it has boasted against the Lord.
43 “Terror and traps and snares will be your lot,
O Moab,” says the Lord.
44 “Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap,
and those who escape the trap will step into a snare.
I will see to it that you do not get away,
for the time of your judgment has come,”
says the Lord.
45 “The people flee as far as Heshbon
but are unable to go on.
For a fire comes from Heshbon,
King Sihon’s ancient home,
to devour the entire land
with all its rebellious people.
46 “What sorrow awaits you, O people of Moab!
The people of the god Chemosh are destroyed!
Your sons and your daughters
have been taken away as captives.
47 But I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in days to come.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
This is the end of Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning Moab.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 48:2 Madmen sounds like the Hebrew word for “silence”; it should not be confused with the English word madmen.
- 48:4 Greek version reads Her cries are heard as far away as Zoar.
- 48:6 Or Hide like a wild donkey; or Hide like a juniper shrub; or Be like [the town of] Aroer. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
- 48:9 Or Put salt on Moab, / for she will be laid waste.
- 48:13 Hebrew ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.
- 48:21 Hebrew Jahzah, a variant spelling of Jahaz.
- 48:31 Hebrew Kir-heres, a variant spelling of Kir-hareseth; also in 48:36.
- 48:32 Hebrew the sea of Jazer.
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