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Jeremiah 48
Prophecy against Moab
1 Concerning (F1)(C1)Moab.
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel,
"Woe (judgment is coming) to the city of (F2)(C2)Nebo, for it has been destroyed!
(C3)Kiriathaim has been shamed, it has been captured;
Misgab the high fortress has been shamed, broken down and crushed. (VR1)
2 "The glory of Moab is no more;
In (F1)(C1)Heshbon they planned evil against her,
Saying, 'Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!'
You also, O city of Madmen, shall be silenced;
The sword will pursue you.
3 "The sound of an outcry from (C1)Horonaim,
'Desolation and great destruction!'
4 "Moab is destroyed;
Her little ones have called out a cry of distress to be heard as far as Zoar.
5 "For the Ascent of (C1)Luhith
Will be climbed by successive groups of fugitives with continual weeping;
For on the descent of Horonaim
They have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.
6 "(C1)Run! Save your lives,
That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.
7 "For because you have (C1)trusted in your works your hand-made idols and in your treasures instead of in God,
Even you yourself will be captured;
And (F1)(C2)Chemosh your disgusting god cannot rescue you, but will go away into exile along with the fugitives
Together with his priests and his princes.
8 "And the destroyer will come upon every city;
No city will escape.
The Jordan valley also will be ruined
And the (C1)plain will be devastated,
As the LORD has said.
9 "Give a (C1)gravestone to Moab,
For she will fall into ruins;
Her cities (pastures, farms) will be (C2)desolate,
Without anyone to live in them.
10 "(C1)Cursed is the one who does the work of the LORD (C2)negligently,
And cursed is the one who restrains his (C3)sword from blood in executing the judgment of the LORD.
11 "Moab has been (C1)at ease from his youth;
He has also been undisturbed, and (C2)settled like wine on his dregs,
And he has not been (C3)emptied from one vessel to another,
Nor has he gone into exile.
Therefore his flavor remains in him,
And his scent has not changed.
14 "How can you say, 'We are (C1)great warriors
And valiant men in war?'
15 "Moab has been made desolate and his cities have gone up in smoke and flame;
And his chosen (C1)young men have gone down to the slaughter,"
Says the (C2)King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
16 "The destruction of Moab will come (C1)soon,
And his disaster hurries quickly.
17 "Show sympathy for him, all you nations who are around him,
And all you distant nations who know his name;
Say, 'How has the mighty (C1)scepter of national power been broken,
And the splendid staff of glory!'
18 "(C1)Come down from your glory,
O (C2)Daughter living in (F1)(C3)Dibon,
And sit on the parched ground among the thirsty!
For the destroyer of Moab has advanced against you;
He has destroyed your strongholds.
19 "O inhabitant of (C1)Aroer,
Stand by the road and keep watch!
(C2)Ask of him who flees and ask of her who escapes,
Saying, 'What has happened?'
20 "Moab is shamed, for she has been broken down and shattered.
Wail and cry out!
Tell by the banks of the (C1)Arnon
That Moab has been destroyed.
21 "Judgment has come on the land of the plain—upon Holon, (C1)Jahzah, and against (C2)Mephaath,22 against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,23 against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and (C1)Beth-meon,24 against (C1)Kerioth, Bozrah and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.25 "The (C1)horn (strength) of Moab has been cut off and his (C2)arm of authority is shattered," says the LORD.26 "(C1)Make him drunk, for he has (C2)become arrogant and magnified himself against the LORD by denying Reuben's occupation of the land the LORD had assigned him. Moab also will wallow in his vomit, and he too shall become a laughingstock. (VR1)27 "For was not Israel a (C1)laughingstock to you? Was he (C2)caught among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you (C3)shake your head in scorn.
28 "You inhabitants of Moab,
Leave the cities and live among the (C1)rocks,
And be like the (C2)dove that makes her nest
In the walls of the yawning ravine.
29 "(C1)We have heard of the giddy pride of Moab, the extremely proud one—
His haughtiness, his (C2)arrogance, his conceit, and his self-exaltation.
30 "I know his insolent (C1)wrath," says the LORD,
"But it is futile;
His idle boasts in his deeds have accomplished nothing.
31 "Therefore I will (C1)wail over Moab,
And I will cry out for all Moab.
I will sigh and mourn over the men of (C2)Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth). (VR1)
32 "O vines of Sibmah, I will weep for you
More than the (C1)weeping of (C2)Jazer over its ruins and wasted vineyards.
Your tendrils of influence stretched across the sea,
Reaching even to the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen
On your summer fruits and your season's crop of grapes.
33 "So joy and (C1)gladness are taken away
From the fruitful field and from the land of Moab.
And I have made the wine (C2)cease from the wine presses;
No one treads the grapes with shouting.
Their shouting is not joyful shouting but is instead, a battle cry.
36 "Therefore My (C1)heart moans and sighs for Moab like flutes, and My heart moans and sighs like flutes for the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth); therefore the remnant of the abundant riches they gained has (C2)perished.37 "For (C1)every head is shaven bald and every beard cut off; there are cuts (slashes) on all the hands and (C2)sackcloth on the (F1)loins all expressions of mourning. (VR1)38 "On all the (C1)housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation (expressions of grief for the dead) everywhere, for I have broken Moab like a (C2)vessel in which there is no pleasure," says the LORD.39 "How it is broken down! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab will become a laughingstock and a horrifying (C1)terror to all who are around him."
40 For thus says the LORD:
"Behold, one (Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon) will (C1)fly swiftly like an eagle
And (C2)spread out his wings against Moab. (VR1)
41 "Kerioth and the cities has been taken
And the strongholds seized;
And the (C1)hearts of the warriors of Moab in that day
Shall be like the heart of a (C2)woman in childbirth.
42 "Moab will be (F1)(C1)destroyed from being a nation (people)
Because he has (C2)become arrogant and magnified himself against the LORD.
43 "(C1)Terror and pit and snare are before you,
O inhabitant of Moab," says the LORD. (VR1)
44 "The one who (C1)flees from the terror
Will fall into the pit,
And the one who gets up out of the pit
Will be taken and caught in the trap;
For I shall bring upon it, even upon Moab,
The year of their (C2)punishment," says the LORD.
45 "In the shadow of Heshbon
The fugitives stand powerless helpless and without strength,
For a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
A (C1)flame from the midst of (C2)Sihon;
It has destroyed the (C3)forehead of Moab
And the crowns of the heads of the arrogant Moabites the ones in tumult.
46 "(C1)Woe (judgment is coming) to you, O Moab!
The people of the pagan god called (C2)Chemosh have perished;
For your sons have been taken away captive
And your daughters into captivity.
47 "Yet I will (C1)return the captives and restore the fortunes of Moab
In the latter days," says the LORD.
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