Beginning

² Raise a banner on a bare hill!
Shout to them.
Signal to them to enter the gates of the nobles.
³ I have given a command to my consecrated warriors.
I have called my elite warriors to carry out my anger—
those who rejoice in my triumph.
⁴ The noise of a horde is heard on the mountains,
like the noise of many people,
    like the uproar of the kingdoms of the nations
    who are massing together!
The Lord of Armies is mustering an army for war.
⁵ They come from a faraway country,
from the ends of the heavens.
The Lord and the weapons of his wrath
come to destroy the whole land.
⁶ Wail, for the Day of the Lord is near.
It will come like destruction from the Almighty.^[b]
7 Therefore all hands will hang limp,
and every heart will melt.
⁸ They will be terrified.
Pain will overcome them.
They will be in pain like a woman in labor.
They will look at each other in shock.
Their faces are flushed.

⁹ Look, the Day of the Lord is coming,
a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger,
a day to make the land desolate,
a day to destroy its sinners there.
¹⁰ For the stars of the sky and its constellations
    will not give their light.
The sun will be darkened as it rises,
and the moon will give no light.

¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their guilt.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the insolent,
and I will humble the pride of the ruthless.
¹² I will make people rarer than fine gold,
and mankind scarcer than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken off its foundation
at the wrath of the Lord of Armies,
in the day of his fierce anger.

¹⁴ Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep without a shepherd,
each of them will turn to his own people,
and everyone will flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Everyone who is caught will be run through.
Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes.
Their houses will be looted, and their wives will be raped.

¹⁷ See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who have no use for silver,
who do not delight even in gold.
¹⁸ Their bows will strike down the young,
and they will have no pity on newborn infants.^[c]
There will be no compassion in their eyes for children.

¹⁹ Babylon is the glory of kingdoms,
the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
but it will be just like the day when God overthrew
    Sodom and Gomorrah.
²⁰ It will never be inhabited again,
nor will anyone live in it from generation to generation.
No Arab^[d] will pitch his tent there.
No shepherd will rest his flocks there.
²¹ Instead, wild animals from the desert will rest there.
The houses will be full of wild dogs.^[e]
Ostriches will nest there,
and wild goats will frolic.
²² Hyenas will howl in its fortresses,
and jackals in the luxurious palaces.
Its time is near,
and its days will not be prolonged.

“How the oppressor has ceased!
How his fury^[f] has ended!”
⁵ The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers,
⁶ who struck down peoples with fury, blow after blow,
who ruled the nations in anger,
with a persecution that no one restrained.

⁷ The whole earth is at rest and is quiet.
Everything breaks into song.
⁸ Yes, the fir trees rejoice with you,
along with the cedars of Lebanon.
They say, “Since the time you were humbled,
no woodcutter has come to cut us down.”
⁹ The grave below is ready to meet you when you come.
It stirs up the departed spirits to meet you—
all those who once were the rulers of the earth.
It makes all those who were kings over nations
    rise from their thrones.
¹⁰ They will all respond to you, Babylon.
The spirits all will ask you,
“Have you also become as weak as we are?
Have you become like us?”

¹¹ Your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
    along with the sound of your harps.
Maggots are spread out beneath you,
and worms cover you.

¹² How you have fallen from heaven,
you bright morning star,^[g] son of the dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
¹³ You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven!
I will raise my throne above the stars of God!
I will sit on the mountain of the assembly, in the far north!
¹⁴ I will ascend above the tops of the clouds!
I will make myself like the Most High!”
¹⁵ But you will be brought down to the grave,
to the bottom of the pit.
¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you.
They will ask themselves,
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms?
¹⁷ Is this the man who made the world like a wilderness,
who overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home?”

¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in state,
each in his own tomb.
¹⁹ But you will be tossed out of your tomb,
like a rejected branch.
You will be covered with the dead bodies,
with those who have been run through by the sword,
with those who descend into a stone-filled pit.
Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
²⁰ you will not join them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land and killed your people.
The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again.

²² I will rise up against them,
declares the Lord of Armies.
I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remaining people,
her posterity and progeny,^[h] declares the Lord.
²³ I will turn it into a marsh, a home for porcupines,^[i]
and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction,
declares the Lord of Armies.

²⁶ This is the plan that has been determined for the whole world.
This is the hand that is stretched out over all nations.
²⁷ For the Lord of Armies has made plans,
and who can stop him?
His hand is stretched out,
and who can turn it back?

²⁹ Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken.
From the snake’s root a viper will slither out,
and from its egg a venomous flying serpent^[j] will come.
³⁰ The poorest of the poor will eat,
and the needy will lie down in safety.
But I will kill your root with famine,
and even those of you who remain will be put to death.
³¹ Wail, O gate! Howl, O city!
Melt away, all you Philistines!
A cloud of dust descends from the north,
and no one in its ranks will be left behind.
³² What answer will they give to the messengers from that nation?
The Lord has established Zion,
and the afflicted people will take refuge in her.

In one night, Ar^[k] of Moab has been ruined and brought to nothing.
In one night, Kir of Moab has been ruined and brought to nothing.
² They have gone up to the temple at Dibon,
up to the high places to weep.
Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba.
Every head is shaved.
Every beard is cut off.
³ They wear sackcloth in their streets.
On the rooftops and in the public squares, everyone wails.
They all collapse in tears.
⁴ Heshbon cries out with Elealeh.
Their voice is heard even in Jahaz.
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,
and their spirit is weak.

⁵ My heart cries out for Moab!
Her refugees^[l] flee to Zoar,
to Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the Ascent of Luhith,
    weeping all the way.
On the way to Horonaim,
    they weep continuously over their destruction.
⁶ The waters of Nimrim are dried up.
The grass has withered away.
The vegetation has died,
and no green thing remains.
⁷ So they will carry across the Ravine of Poplars^[m]
    whatever remains from the wealth they acquired
    and from the supplies they stored up.
⁸ For a cry has echoed around the borders of Moab.
The wailing reaches to Eglaim
and all the way to Be’er Elim.
⁹ For the waters of Dimon are full of blood,^[n]
and I will bring still more on Dimon.
I will bring a lion upon the refugees of Moab
and upon the survivors who remain in the land.

16 Send the tribute ram for the ruler of the land,

from Selah toward the wilderness,
to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
² At the fords of the Arnon, the daughters of Moab will be
like birds fleeing from a scattered nest.

³ Get advice and make a decision.
At high noon make your shade as dark as night.
Hide the refugees.
Do not betray the fugitive.
⁴ Let the refugees from Moab stay with you.
        Be a hiding place for them from the face of the destroyer.

For the extortionist is no longer present.
Violence has ceased,
and the oppressors have disappeared from the land.
⁵ A throne will be established in mercy.
In the tent of David a judge will sit on the throne in truth,
seeking justice, eager to bring righteousness.

⁶ We have heard about Moab’s pride,
about his egotistical conceit.
His pride, his arrogance, and his boasting are nothing but self-delusion.
⁷ Therefore Moab will wail for Moab.
Everyone will wail.
Completely devastated, you will mourn for the raisin cakes
    of Kir Hareseth.

⁸ Look, the fields of Heshbon wither,
along with the vines of Sibmah.
The rulers of the nations have trampled the choice vines,
    which reached even to Jazer,
    which spread out into the wilderness.
Their shoots were spread out all the way to the sea.
⁹ Therefore I will weep as Jazer weeps for the vines of Sibmah.
I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh,
because the noisy celebration over your ripened fruit
    and over your harvest has been silenced.
¹⁰ Gladness and joy are taken away from the rich fields.
In the vineyards there will be no cries of joy or happy shouting.
No one will tread out wine from the wine presses.
I have put a stop to the cheering.
¹¹ That is why my deepest feelings moan like a lyre for Moab,
and everything inside me is poured out for Kir Hareseth.
¹² When Moab presents himself on the high place,
he only wears himself out.
When he goes to his shrine to pray,
he will accomplish nothing.
¹³ This is the word that the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab.

Soon Damascus will no longer be a city.
It will become a heap of ruins.
² The cities of Aroer are forsaken.
They will be places for flocks.
The flocks will lie down,
and no one will make them afraid.
³ The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus.
What remains of Aram will be like the glory of the people of Israel,
    declares the Lord of Armies.
⁴ On that day the glory of Jacob will fade,
and his sturdy body will waste away.
⁵ It will be like the time when a reaper has gathered the standing grain,
and his arm has reaped the heads of grain,
when someone gleans grain in the Valley of Rephaim,
⁶ and a few gleanings are still left there,
or when the branches of an olive tree have been beaten,
and only two or three ripe olives are left on the top of the highest bough,
or four or five remain on the fruitful branches,
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
⁷ On that day people will trust in their Maker,
and they will look to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ They will not look to the altars, the work of their own hands.
They will not respect what their fingers have made,
    neither the Asherah poles nor the altars for incense.
⁹ On that day Israel’s strong cities will be
like the forsaken hilltops of the Amorites,^[o]
like the places that were abandoned when the people of Israel
    first came.
They will be desolate.

¹⁰ You have forgotten the God who saves you.
You have not remembered the Rock who is your strength.
Therefore, although you set out the best quality plants,
and you plant cuttings from imported vines,
¹¹ and you put a fence around them on the day you plant them,
and you get your seed to sprout in the morning,
nevertheless, the harvest will come to nothing
    in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.^[p]

¹² Oh, the roar of many peoples!
They roar like the raging seas.
Oh, the uproar of nations!
It sounds like huge, crashing waves!
¹³ The nations will roar like the crashing of great waves,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away.
They will be driven off the mountains like wind-blown chaff,
like a tumbleweed blown about in a storm.
¹⁴ In the evening, terror rushes in!
Before morning they are gone.
This will be the reward for those who plunder us,
the lot of those who rob us.