Chapter 48

¹Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Woe to Nabo, for it is laid waste, and confounded: Cariathaim is taken: the strong city is confounded and hath trembled. ²There is no more rejoicing in Moab over Hesebon: they have devised evil. Come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Therefore shalt thou in silence hold thy peace, and the sword shall follow thee. ³A voice of crying from Oronaim: waste, and great destruction. ⁴Moab is destroyed: proclaim a cry for her little ones. ⁵For by the ascent of Luith shall the mourner go up with weeping: for in the descent of Oronaim the enemies have heard a howling of destruction. ⁶Flee, save your lives: and be as heath in the wilderness. ⁷For because thou hast trusted in thy bulwarks, and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken: and Chamos shall go into captivity, his priests, and his princes together. ⁸And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: and the valleys shall perish, and the plains shall be destroyed, for the Lord hath spoken: ⁹Give a flower to Moab, for in its flower it shall go out: and the cities thereof shall be desolate, and uninhabited. ¹⁰Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully: and cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood. ¹¹Moab hath been fruitful from his youth, and hath rested upon his lees: and hath not been poured out from vessel to vessel, nor hath gone into captivity : therefore his taste hath remained in him, and his scent is not changed. ¹²Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send him men that shall order and overturn his bottles, and they shall cast him down, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles one against another. ¹³And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted. ¹⁴How do you say: We are valiant, and stout men in battle? ¹⁵Moab is laid waste, and they have cast down her cities: and her choice young men are gone down to the slaughter: saith the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts. ¹⁶The destruction of Moab is near to come: the calamity thereof shall come on exceeding swiftly. ¹⁷Comfort him, all you that are round about him, and all you that know his name, say: How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod? ¹⁸Come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst, O dwelling of the daughter of Dibon: because the spoiler of Moab is come up to thee, he hath destroyed thy bulwarks. ¹⁹Stand in the way, and look out, O habitation of Aroer: inquire of him that fleeth: and say to him that hath escaped: What Is done? ²⁰Moab is confounded, because he is overthrown: howl ye, and cry, tell ye it in Amen, that Moab is wasted. ²¹And judgment is come upon the plain country: upon Helon, and upon Jasa, and upon Mephaath. ²²And upon Dibon, and upon Nabo, and upon the house of Deblathaim, ²³And upon Cariathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmaon, ²⁴And upon Carioth, and upon Bosra: and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. ²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the Lord. ²⁶Make him drunk, because he lifted up himself against the Lord: and Moab shall dash his hand in his own vomit, and he also shall be in derision. ²⁷For Israel hath been a derision unto thee: as though thou hadst found him amongst thieves: for thy words therefore, which thou hast spoken against him, thou shalt be led away captive. ²⁸Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, you that dwell in Moab: and be ye Iike the dove that maketh her nest in the mouth of the hole in the highest place. ²⁹We have heard the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his haughtiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the loftiness of his heart. ³⁰I know, saith the Lord, his boasting, and that the strength thereof is not according to it, neither hath it endeavoured to do according as it was able. ³¹Therefore will I lament for Moab, and I will cry out to all Moab, for the men of the brick wall that mourn. ³²O vineyard of Sabama, I will weep for thee, with the mourning of Jazer: thy branches are gone over the sea, they are come even to the sea of Jazer: the robber hath rushed in upon thy harvest and thy vintage. ³³Joy and gladness is taken away from Carmel, and from the land of Moab, and I have taken away the wine out of the presses: the treader of the grapes shall not sing the accustomed cheerful tune. ³⁴From the cry of Hesebon even to Eleale, and to Jasa, they have uttered their voice: from Segor to Oronaim, as a heifer of three years old: the waters also of Nemrim shall be very bad. ³⁵And I will take away from Moab, saith the Lord, him that offereth in the high places, and that sacrificeth to his gods. ³⁶Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes: and my heart a sound like pipes for the men of the brick wall: because he hath done more than he could, therefore they have perished. ³⁷For every head shall be bald, and every beard shall be shaven: all hands shall be tied together, and upon every back there shall be haircloth. ³⁸Upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof general mourning: because I have broken Moab as an useless vessel, saith the Lord. ³⁹How is it overthrown, and they have howled! How hath Moab bowed down the neck, and is confounded ! And Moab shall be a derision, and an example to all round about him. ⁴⁰Thus saith the Lord: Behold he shall fly as an eagle, and shall stretch forth his wings to Moab. ⁴¹Carioth is taken, and the strong holds are won: and the heart of the valiant men of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in labour. ⁴²And Moab shall cease to be a people : because he hath gloried against the Lord. ⁴³Fear, and the pit, and the snare come upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord. ⁴⁴He that shall flee from the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall get up out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon Moab the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. ⁴⁵They that fled from the snare stood in the shadow of Hesebon: but there came a fire out of Kesebon, and a flame out of the midst of Seen, and it shall devour part of Moab. and the crown of the head of the children of tumult. ⁴⁶Woe to thee, Moab, thou hast perished, O people of Chamos: for thy sons, and thy daughters are taken captives. ⁴⁷And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the last days, saith the Lord. Hitherto the judgments of Moab.