⁶ For at ^(I)the window of my house
    I have looked out through my lattice,
⁷ and I have seen among ^(J)the simple,
    I have perceived among the youths,
    a young man ^(K)lacking sense,
⁸ passing along the street ^(L)near her corner,
    taking the road to her house
⁹ in ^(M)the twilight, in the evening,
    at ^(N)the time of night and darkness.

¹⁰ And behold, the woman meets him,
    ^(O)dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.^[c]
11 She is ^(P)loud and ^(Q)wayward;
    ^(R)her feet do not stay at home;
¹² now in the street, now in the market,
    and ^(S)at every corner she ^(T)lies in wait.
¹³ She seizes him and kisses him,
    and with ^(U)bold face she says to him,
¹⁴ “I had to ^(V)offer sacrifices,^[d]
    and today I have ^(W)paid my vows;
¹⁵ so now I have come out to meet you,
    to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
¹⁶ I have spread my couch with ^(X)coverings,
    colored linens from ^(Y)Egyptian linen;
¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed with ^(Z)myrrh,
    aloes, and ^(AA)cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
    let us delight ourselves with love.
¹⁹ For ^(AB)my husband is not at home;
    he has gone on a long journey;
²⁰ he took a bag of money with him;
    at full moon he will come home.”

²¹ With much seductive speech she persuades him;
    with ^(AC)her smooth talk she compels him.
²² All at once he follows her,
    as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast^[e]
23     till an arrow pierces its liver;
as ^(AD)a bird rushes into a snare;
    he does not know that it will cost him his life.

²⁴ And ^(AE)now, O sons, listen to me,
    and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
²⁵ Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
    do not stray into her paths,
²⁶ for many a victim has she laid low,
    and all her slain are ^(AF)a mighty throng.
²⁷ Her house is ^(AG)the way to Sheol,
    going down to the chambers of death.

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.
16 ^(T)Send the lamb to the ruler of the land,
from ^(U)Sela, by way of the desert,
    to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
² Like fleeing birds,
    like a scattered nest,
so are the daughters of Moab
    at ^(V)the fords of the Arnon.

³ “Give counsel;
    grant justice;
^(W)make your shade like night
    at the height of noon;
shelter the outcasts;
    do not reveal the fugitive;
⁴ let ^(X)the outcasts of Moab
    sojourn among you;
be a shelter to them^[d]
    from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
    and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,
^5 (Y)then a throne will be established in steadfast love,
    and on it will sit in faithfulness
    in the tent of David
one who judges and seeks justice
    and is swift to do righteousness.”

^6 (Z)We have heard of the pride of Moab—
    how proud he is!—
^(AA)of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
    in his idle boasting he is not right.
⁷ Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,
    ^(AB)let everyone wail.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
    for the ^(AC)raisin cakes of ^(AD)Kir-hareseth.

⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish,
    and ^(AE)the vine of Sibmah;
the lords of the nations
    have struck down its branches,
which reached to Jazer
    and strayed to the desert;
its shoots spread abroad
    and passed over the sea.
⁹ Therefore ^(AF)I weep with ^(AG)the weeping of Jazer
    for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
    O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for over ^(AH)your summer fruit and your harvest
    the shout has ceased.
^10 (AI)And joy and gladness are taken away from ^(AJ)the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no ^(AK)songs are sung,
    no cheers are raised;
no ^(AL)treader treads out wine ^(AM)in the presses;
    I have put an end to the shouting.
¹¹ Therefore ^(AN)my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,
    and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
    and will become a heap of ruins.
² The cities of ^(AV)Aroer are deserted;
    they will be for flocks,
    which will lie down, and ^(AW)none will make them afraid.
³ The fortress will disappear from ^(AX)Ephraim,
    and the kingdom from ^(AY)Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
    like ^(AZ)the glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts.

⁴ And in that day ^(BA)the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
    and ^(BB)the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
⁵ And it shall be ^(BC)as when the reaper gathers standing grain
    and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
    in ^(BD)the Valley of Rephaim.
^6 (BE)Gleanings will be left in it,
    as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
    in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
    on the branches of a fruit tree,
declares the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁰ For ^(BJ)you have forgotten the God of your salvation
    and have not remembered the ^(BK)Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
    and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
¹¹ though you make them grow^[e] on the day that you plant them,
    and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away^[f]
    in a day of grief and incurable pain.

¹² Ah, ^(BL)the thunder of many peoples;
    they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
    they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
^13 (BM)The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
    ^(BN)but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased ^(BO)like chaff on the mountains before the wind
    and ^(BP)whirling dust before the storm.
^14 (BQ)At evening time, behold, terror!
    Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    and the lot of those who plunder us.

^(K)“Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸ do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
    on the day of testing in the wilderness,
⁹ where your fathers put me to the test
    and saw my works for ^(L)forty years.
¹⁰ Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
    they have not known my ways.’
^11 (M)As I swore in my wrath,
    ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

^(R)“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”