Jeremiah 48:1–25

¹Concerning 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.

²There is no longer praise for Moab;

in Heshbon^a they devise evil against her:

‘Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.’

You too, O people of Madmen,^b will be silenced;

the sword will pursue you.

³A voice cries out from Horonaim:

‘Devastation and great destruction!’

⁴Moab will be shattered;

her little ones will cry out.^c

⁵For on the ascent to Luhith

they weep bitterly as they go,

and on the descent to Horonaim

cries of distress resound

over the destruction:

⁶‘Flee! Run for your lives!

Become like a juniper in the desert.^d’

⁷Because you trust in your works and treasures,

you too will be captured,

and Chemosh will go into exile

with his priests and officials.

⁸The 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.

⁹Put salt on Moab,

for she will be laid waste;^e

her cities will become desolate,

with no one to dwell in them.

¹⁰Cursed is the one who is remiss

in doing the work of the LORD,

and cursed is he who withholds

his sword from bloodshed.

¹¹Moab 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.

¹²Therefore 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.

¹³Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,

just as the house of Israel was ashamed

when they trusted in Bethel.

¹⁴How can you say, ‘We are warriors,

mighty men ready for battle’?

¹⁵Moab 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.

¹⁶Moab’s calamity is at hand,

and his affliction is rushing swiftly.

¹⁷Mourn for him, all you who surround him,

everyone who knows his name;

tell how the mighty scepter is shattered —

the glorious staff!

¹⁸Come 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.

¹⁹Stand by the road and watch,

O dweller of Aroer!

Ask the man fleeing or the woman escaping,

‘What has happened?’

²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it has been shattered.

Wail and cry out!

Declare by the Arnon

that Moab is destroyed.

²¹Judgment has come upon the high plain—

upon Holon, Jahzah,^f and Mephaath,

²²upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

²³upon Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,

²⁴upon Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the towns of Moab,

those far and near.

²⁵The horn of Moab has been cut off,

and his arm is broken,”

declares the LORD.