Jeremiah 48

¹Jeremiah 48:1. Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be devastated. Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced; the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.²Jeremiah 48:2. There is no longer praise for Moab; in Heshbon they devise evil against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.’ You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.³Jeremiah 48:3. A voice cries out from Horonaim: ‘Devastation and great destruction!’⁴Jeremiah 48:4. Moab will be shattered; her little ones will cry out.⁵Jeremiah 48:5. For on the ascent to Luhith they weep bitterly as they go, and on the descent to Horonaim cries of distress resound over the destruction:⁶Jeremiah 48:6. ‘Flee! Run for your lives! Become like a juniper in the desert.’⁷Jeremiah 48:7. Because you trust in your works and treasures, you too will be captured, and Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.⁸Jeremiah 48:8. The destroyer will move against every city, and not one town will escape. The valley will also be ruined, and the high plain will be destroyed, as the LORD has said.⁹Jeremiah 48:9. Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste; her cities will become desolate, with no one to dwell in them.¹⁰Jeremiah 48:10. Cursed is the one who is remiss in doing the work of the LORD, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from bloodshed.¹¹Jeremiah 48:11. Moab has been at ease from youth, settled like wine on its dregs; he has not been poured from vessel to vessel or gone into exile. So his flavor has remained the same, and his aroma is unchanged.¹²Jeremiah 48:12. Therefore behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will send to him wanderers, who will pour him out. They will empty his vessels and shatter his jars.¹³Jeremiah 48:13. Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.¹⁴Jeremiah 48:14. How can you say, ‘We are warriors, mighty men ready for battle’?¹⁵Jeremiah 48:15. Moab has been destroyed and its towns have been invaded; the best of its young men have gone down in the slaughter, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts.¹⁶Jeremiah 48:16. Moab’s calamity is at hand, and his affliction is rushing swiftly.¹⁷Jeremiah 48:17. Mourn for him, all you who surround him, everyone who knows his name; tell how the mighty scepter is shattered—the glorious staff!¹⁸Jeremiah 48:18. Come down from your glory; sit on parched ground, O daughter dwelling in Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses.¹⁹Jeremiah 48:19. Stand by the road and watch, O dweller of Aroer! Ask the man fleeing or the woman escaping, ‘What has happened?’²⁰Jeremiah 48:20. Moab is put to shame, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out! Declare by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.²¹Jeremiah 48:21. Judgment has come upon the high plain—upon Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,²²Jeremiah 48:22. upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,²³Jeremiah 48:23. upon Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,²⁴Jeremiah 48:24. upon Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the towns of Moab, those far and near.²⁵Jeremiah 48:25. The horn of Moab has been cut off, and his arm is broken,” declares the LORD.²⁶Jeremiah 48:26. “Make him drunk, because he has magnified himself against the LORD; so Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock.²⁷Jeremiah 48:27. Was not Israel your object of ridicule? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.²⁸Jeremiah 48:28. Abandon the towns and settle among the rocks, O dwellers of Moab! Be like a dove that nests at the mouth of a cave.²⁹Jeremiah 48:29. We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his proud arrogance and haughtiness of heart.³⁰Jeremiah 48:30. I know his insolence,” declares the LORD, “but it is futile. His boasting is as empty as his deeds.³¹Jeremiah 48:31. Therefore I will wail for Moab; I will cry out for all of Moab; I will moan for the men of Kir-heres.³²Jeremiah 48:32. I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah, more than I weep for Jazer. Your tendrils have extended to the sea; they reach even to Jazer. The destroyer has descended on your summer fruit and grape harvest.³³Jeremiah 48:33. Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard and from the fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; their shouts are not for joy.³⁴Jeremiah 48:34. There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices to Jahaz, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.³⁵Jeremiah 48:35. In Moab, declares the LORD, I will bring an end to those who make offerings on the high places and burn incense to their gods.³⁶Jeremiah 48:36. Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.³⁷Jeremiah 48:37. For every head is shaved and every beard is clipped; on every hand is a gash, and around every waist is sackcloth.³⁸Jeremiah 48:38. On all the rooftops of Moab and in the public squares, everyone is mourning; for I have shattered Moab like an unwanted jar,” declares the LORD.³⁹Jeremiah 48:39. “How shattered it is! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! Moab has become an object of ridicule and horror to all those around him.”⁴⁰Jeremiah 48:40. For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, an eagle swoops down and spreads his wings against Moab.⁴¹Jeremiah 48:41. Kirioth has been taken, and the strongholds seized. In that day the heart of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.⁴²Jeremiah 48:42. Moab will be destroyed as a nation because he vaunted himself against the LORD.⁴³Jeremiah 48:43. Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of Moab,” declares the LORD.⁴⁴Jeremiah 48:44. “Whoever flees the panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon Moab the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.⁴⁵Jeremiah 48:45. “Those who flee will stand helpless in Heshbon’s shadow, because fire has gone forth from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It devours the foreheads of Moab and the skulls of the sons of tumult.⁴⁶Jeremiah 48:46. Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished; for your sons have been taken into exile and your daughters have gone into captivity.⁴⁷Jeremiah 48:47. Yet in the latter days I will restore Moab from captivity,” declares the LORD. Here ends the judgment on Moab.