Jeremiah 48

¹ On Moab. Yahweh, the God of Israel, says this: Woe to Nebo, for it has been ravaged, Kiriathaim has been taken, all is confusion and alarm in the fortress:

² it is no longer the boast of Moab! At Heshbon[*a] they plotted her downfall, ‘Come on! Let us blot her out from the nations!’ And you too, Madmen, you will be subdued, the sword is close on you.

³ Hark! From the Abarim a shout, ‘Devastation! Dire calamity!’

⁴ ‘Moab is shattered’ the cry echoes as far as Zoar.

⁵ Ah, slopes of Luhith, they go up them weeping. At the descent of Horonaim cries of distress are heard,

⁶ ‘Away! Flee for your lives! Run like the wild asses in the desert!’

⁷ Yes, since you trusted in your strongholds you will be captured too. Chemosh[*b] will go into exile, with all his priests and his nobles.

⁸ The destroyer will descend on every town, not one will escape; the Valley will be despoiled, the Plain be plundered: Yahweh proclaims it!

⁹ Give Moab a tomb, since she is totally destroyed; her towns are in ruins, with no one to live in them.

¹⁰ (Cursed be he who does the work of Yahweh half-heartedly! Cursed be he who grudges blood to his sword!)

¹¹ From his youth Moab lived at ease, he settled on his lees, never having been decanted, never having gone into exile: and so he kept his own flavour, his aroma was unchanged[*c].

¹² And so the days are coming – it is Yahweh who speaks – when I shall send him decanters to decant him; they will empty his storage jars and break his amphorae to bits.

¹³ Moab will blush for Chemosh then, as the House of Israel blushed for Bethel[*d] in whom they put their trust.

¹⁴ How can you say, ‘We are heroes, sturdy fighting men’?

¹⁵ The destroyer of Moab has advanced on him: the flower of his youth goes down to the slaughter.

¹⁶ Moab’s ruin is coming soon, his downfall comes at top speed.

¹⁷ Grieve for him, all you living near him, all you who knew his name. Say, ‘Imagine it being broken, that mighty rod, that splendid sceptre!’

¹⁸ Come down from your glory, sit in the dung, daughter of Dibon, so safe in your home: the destroyer of Moab has advanced on you, he has stormed your strongholds.

¹⁹ Stand by the roadside, keep watch, inhabitants of Aroer. Question fugitive and runaway, ask, ‘What has happened?’

²⁰ Moab is shattered and shamed. Wail and shriek! Shout across the Arnon, ‘Moab has been laid waste!’

²¹ Judgement has also come on the land of the Plain, on Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath,

²² Dibon, Nebo, Beth-diblathaim,

²³ Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, Beth-meon,

²⁴ Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the towns in the land of Moab, far and near.

²⁵ The horn of Moab has been cut off, and his arm broken.

²⁶ Make him drunk! He has set himself up against Yahweh: Moab will wallow in his vomit, become a laughing-stock in his turn.

²⁷ Was not Israel a laughing-stock to you? Was he caught red-handed with the thieves, for you to shake your head whenever you mention him?

²⁸ Leave the towns, make the rocks your home, inhabitants of Moab. Learn from the dove that makes its nest in the walls of the gaping gorge.

²⁹ We have heard of the pride of Moab, excessive pride! What arrogance! What pride! What conceit! What a haughty heart!

³⁰ – I know all about his presumption – it is Yahweh who speaks – his empty boasting, those empty deeds of his!

³¹ – And so I lament for Moab, for all Moab I cry aloud, and mourn for the men of Kir-heres[*e].

³² More than for Jazer I weep for you, vine of Sibmah: your shoots stretched beyond the sea, they reached all the way to Jazer. On your harvest, on your vintage, the destroyer has descended.

³³ Gladness and joy have vanished from the land of Moab. There is no longer wine in the presses, the treader of grapes treads no more, no more do shouts of joy ring out.

³⁴ The howling of Heshbon and Elealeh can be heard as far as Jahaz. The shrieks resound from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah, for the waters of Nimrim too are now becoming desolation.

³⁵ And I shall make an end – it is Yahweh who speaks – of any man in Moab who offers sacrifice and incense to his god on the high places.

³⁶ That is why my heart sobs like a flute for Moab, sobs like a flute for the men of Kir-heres: that accumulated treasure all lost!

³⁷ Yes, every head is shorn, every beard cut off, gashes are on the hands of all, sackcloth round all their loins.

³⁸ On all the housetops of Moab and in its squares there is nothing but lamenting, for I have broken Moab like a crock that no one wants – it is Yahweh who speaks.

³⁹ What! Broken? What! Moab so shamefully in retreat? What! Moab become a laughing-stock, a thing of horror to all its neighbours?

⁴⁰ For Yahweh says this: (Here is one who hovers like an eagle, who will spread his wings over Moab.)

⁴¹ The towns will be captured, the strongholds seized. (And the heart of Moab’s warriors that day will be like the heart of a woman in labour pains.)

⁴² Moab will be destroyed, no longer a people, for setting itself up against Yahweh.

⁴³ Terror, the pit, the snare, are for you, inhabitant of Moab – it is Yahweh who speaks:

⁴⁴ the man who takes flight from the terror shall fall into the pit, climbing out of the pit, he shall be caught in the snare. Yes, these are the scourges I mean to inflict on Moab when the year comes to punish them – it is Yahweh who speaks.

⁴⁵ In the shelter of Heshbon the fugitives have paused, exhausted. But a fire has come out from Heshbon, a flame from the palace of Sihon, consuming the brows of Moab, the head of a turbulent brood.

⁴⁶ Woe to you, Moab! People of Chemosh, you are lost! For your sons have been taken into exile, and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷ But I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the days to come. It is Yahweh who speaks. Thus far the judgement on Moab.