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Prophecy against Moab

¹ Concerning ^(C1)Moab. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel,

"Woe to ^(C2)Nebo, for it has been destroyed;
^(C3)Kiriathaim has been put to shame, it has been captured;
The lofty stronghold has been put to shame and ^(F1)shattered.

² "There is praise for Moab no longer;
In ^(C1)Heshbon they have devised calamity against her:
'Come and let us cut her off from being a nation!'
You too, ^(F1)Madmen, will be silenced;
The sword will follow after you.

³ "The sound of an outcry from ^(C1)Horonaim,
'Devastation and great destruction!'

⁴ "Moab is broken,
Her little ones have sounded out a cry of distress.

⁵ "For by the ascent of ^(C1)Luhith
They will ascend with continual weeping;
For at the descent of Horonaim
They have heard the ^(F1)anguished cry of destruction.

⁶ "^(C1)Flee, save your lives,
That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

⁷ "For because of your ^(C1)trust in your own achievements and treasures,
Even you yourself will be captured;
And ^(C2)Chemosh will go off into exile
Together with his priests and his princes.

⁸ "A destroyer will come to every city,
So that no city will escape;
The valley also will be ruined
And the ^(C1)plateau will be destroyed,
As the LORD has said.

⁹ "Give ^(F1)(C1)wings to Moab,
For she will ^(F2)flee away;
And her cities will become a ^(C2)desolation,
Without inhabitants in them.

¹⁰ "^(C1)Cursed be the one who does the LORD'S work ^(C2)negligently,
And cursed be the one who restrains his ^(C3)sword from blood.

¹¹ "Moab has been ^(C1)at ease since his youth;
He has also been ^(C2)undisturbed, like wine on ^(F1)its dregs,
And he has not been ^(C3)emptied from vessel to vessel,
Nor has he gone into exile.
Therefore ^(F2)he retains his flavor,
And his aroma has not changed.

¹⁴ "How can you say, 'We are ^(C1)mighty warriors,
And men valiant for battle'?

¹⁵ "Moab has been destroyed and ^(F1)men have gone up to ^(F2)his cities;
His choicest ^(F3)(C1)young men have also gone down to the slaughter,"
Declares the ^(C2)King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

¹⁶ "The disaster of Moab will ^(C1)soon come,
And his calamity has swiftly hastened.

¹⁷ "Mourn for him, all you who live around him,
Even all of you who know his name;
Say, 'How has the mighty ^(F1)(C1)scepter been broken,
A staff of splendor!'

¹⁸ "^(C1)Come down from your glory
And sit ^(F1)on the parched ground,
O ^(C2)daughter dwelling in ^(C3)Dibon,
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,
He has ruined your strongholds.

¹⁹ "Stand by the road and keep watch,
O inhabitant of ^(C1)Aroer;
^(C2)Ask him who flees and her who escapes
And say, 'What has happened?'

²⁰ "Moab has been put to shame, for it has been ^(F1)shattered.
Wail and cry out;
Declare by the ^(C1)Arnon
That Moab has been destroyed.

²¹ "Judgment has also come upon 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 of Moab has been cut off and his ^(C2)arm broken," declares the LORD.²⁶ "^(C1)Make him drunk, for he has ^(F1)become ^(C2)arrogant toward the LORD; so Moab will ^(F2)wallow in his vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock.²⁷ "Now was not Israel a ^(C1)laughingstock to you? Or was he ^(F1)(C2)caught among thieves? For each time you speak about him you ^(C3)shake your head in scorn.

²⁸ "Leave the cities and dwell among the ^(C1)crags,
O inhabitants of Moab,
And be like a ^(C2)dove that nests
Beyond the mouth of the chasm.

²⁹ "^(C1)We have heard of the pride of Moab--he is very proud--
Of his haughtiness, his ^(C2)pride, his arrogance and ^(F1)his self-exaltation.

³⁰ "I know his ^(C1)fury," declares the LORD,
"But it is futile;
His idle boasts have accomplished nothing.

³¹ "Therefore I will ^(C1)wail for Moab,
Even for all Moab will I cry out;
^(F1)I will moan for the men of ^(C2)Kir-heres.

³² "More than the ^(C1)weeping for ^(C2)Jazer
I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah!
Your tendrils stretched across the sea,
They reached to the sea of Jazer;
Upon your summer fruits and your grape harvest
The destroyer has fallen.

³³ "So ^(C1)gladness and joy are taken away
From the fruitful field, even from the land of Moab.
And I have made the wine to ^(C2)cease from the wine presses;
No one will tread them with shouting,
The shouting will not be shouts of joy.

³⁶ "Therefore My ^(C1)heart ^(F1)wails for Moab like flutes; My heart also ^(F1)wails like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have ^(C2)lost the abundance it produced.³⁷ "For ^(C1)every head is bald and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands and ^(C2)sackcloth on the loins.³⁸ "On all the ^(C1)housetops of Moab and in its streets ^(F1)there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable ^(C2)vessel," declares the LORD.³⁹ "How ^(F1)shattered it is! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back--he is ashamed! So Moab will become a laughingstock and an ^(C1)object of terror to all around him."

⁴⁰ For thus says the LORD:

"Behold, one will ^(C1)fly swiftly like an eagle
And ^(C2)spread out his wings against Moab.

⁴¹ "Kerioth has been captured
And the strongholds have been seized,
So the ^(C1)hearts of the mighty men of Moab in that day
Will be like the heart of a ^(C2)woman in labor.

⁴² "Moab will be ^(C1)destroyed from being a people
Because he has ^(F1)become ^(C2)arrogant toward the LORD.

⁴³ "^(C1)Terror, pit and snare are coming upon you,
O inhabitant of Moab," declares the LORD.

⁴⁴ "The one who ^(C1)flees from the terror
Will fall into the pit,
And the one who climbs up out of the pit
Will be caught in the snare;
For I shall bring upon her, even upon Moab,
The year of their ^(C2)punishment," declares the LORD.

⁴⁵ "In the shadow of Heshbon
The fugitives stand without strength;
For a fire has gone forth from Heshbon
And a ^(C1)flame from the midst of ^(C2)Sihon,
And it has devoured the ^(C3)forehead of Moab
And the scalps of the ^(F1)riotous revelers.

⁴⁶ "^(C1)Woe to you, Moab!
The people of ^(C2)Chemosh have perished;
For your sons have been taken away captive
And your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷ "Yet I will ^(C1)restore the ^(F1)fortunes of Moab
In the ^(F2)latter days," declares the LORD. Thus far the judgment on Moab.