The Judgment on Moab

1Thus has the Lord said concerning MOAB, Woe to Nabau! for it has perished: Cariathaim is taken: Amath and Agath are put to shame.

2There is no longer any healing for Moab, nor glorying in Esebon: he has devised evils against her: we have cut her off from being a nation, and she shall be completely still: after thee shall go a sword;

3for there is a voice of men crying out of Oronaim, destruction and great ruin.

4Moab is ruined, proclaim it to Zogora:

5for Aloth is filled with weeping: one shall go up weeping by the way of Oronaim; ye have heard a cry of destruction.

6Flee ye, and save your lives, and ye shall be as a wild ass in the desert.

7Since thou hast trusted in thy strong-hold, therefore thou shalt be taken: and Chamos shall go forth into captivity, and his priests, and his princes together.

8And destruction shall come upon every city, it shall by no means escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain country shall be completely destroyed, as the Lord has said.

9Set marks upon Moab, for she shall be touched with a plague-spot, and all her cities shall become desolate; whence shall there be an inhabitant for her?

10Cursed is the man that does the works of the Lord carelessly, keeping back his sword from blood.

11Moab has been at ease from a child, and trusted in his glory; he has not poured out his liquor from vessel to vessel, and has not gone into banishment, therefore his taste remained in him, and his smell departed not.

12Therefore, behold, his days come, saith the Lord, when I shall send upon him bad leaders, and they shall lead him astray, and they shall utterly break in pieces his possessions, and shall cut his horns asunder. 13And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Baethel their hope, having trusted in them.

14How will ye say, We are strong, and men strong for war?

15Moab is ruined, even his city, and his choice young men have gone down to slaughter.

16The day of Moab is near at hand, and his iniquity moves swiftly to vengeance.

17Shake the head at him, all ye that are round about him; all of you utter his name; say ye, How is the glorious staff broken to pieces, the rod of magnificence!

18Come down from thy glory, and sit down in a damp place: Daebon shall be broken, because Moab is destroyed: there has gone up against thee one to ravage thy strong-hold.

19Stand by the way, and look, thou that dwellest in Arer; and ask him that is fleeing, and him that escapes, and say, What has happened?

20Moab is put to shame, because he is broken: howl and cry; proclaim in Arnon, that Moab has perished.

21And judgment is coming against the land of Misor, upon Chelon, and Rephas, and Mophas, 22and upon Daebon, and upon Nabau, and upon the house of Daethlathaim, 23and upon Cariathaim, and upon the house of Gaemol, and upon the house of Maon, 24and upon Carioth, and upon Bosor, and upon all the cities of Moab, far and near. 25The horn of Moab is broken, and his arm is crushed. 26Make ye him drunk; for he has magnified himself against the Lord: and Moab shall clap with his hand, and shall be also himself a laughing-stock. 27For surely Israel was to thee a laughing-stock, and was found among thy thefts, because thou didst fight against him.

28The inhabitants of Moab have left the cities, and dwelt in rocks; they have become as doves nestling in rocks, at the mouth of a cave.

29And I have heard of the pride of Moab, he has greatly heightened his pride and his haughtiness, and his heart has been lifted up.

30But I know his works: is it not enough for him? has he not done thus?

31Therefore howl ye for Moab on all sides; cry out against the shorn men in a gloomy place. I will weep for thee,

32O vine of Aserema, as with the weeping of Jazer: thy branches are gone over the sea, they reached the cities of Jazer: destruction has come upon thy fruits, and upon thy grape-gatherers.

33Joy and gladness have been utterly swept off the land of Moab: and though there was wine in thy presses, in the morning they trod it not, neither in the evening did they raise the cry of joy.

34From the cry of Esebon even to Aetam their cities uttered their voice, from Zogor to Oronaim, and their tidings as a heifer of three years old, for the water also of Nebrin shall be dried up. 35And I will destroy Moab, saith the Lord, as he comes up to the altar, and burns incense to his gods.

36Therefore the heart of Moab shall sound as pipes, my heart shall sound as a pipe for the shorn men; forasmuch as what every man has gained has perished from him. 37They shall all have their heads shaved in every place, and every beard shall be shaved; and all hands shall beat the breasts, and on all loins shall be sackcloth. 38And on all the housetops of Moab, and in his streets shall be mourning: for I have broken him, saith the Lord, as a vessel, which is useless. 39How has he changed! how has Moab turned his back! Moab is put to shame, and become a laughing-stock, and an object of anger to all that are round about him.

40For thus said the Lord;

41Carioth is taken, and the strong-holds have been taken together.

42And Moab shall perish from being a multitude, because he has magnified himself against the Lord.

43A snare, and fear, and the pit, are upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab.

44He that flees from the terror shall fall into the pit, and he that comes up out of the pit shall even be taken in the snare: for I will bring these things upon Moab in the year of their visitation.