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          DASV: Jeremiah 48    

1 About Moab.
      "This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says:
      Woe to Nebo! For it is laid waste.
            Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is captured;
      the fortress is put to shame and torn down.
2 Moab will be famous no more;
      in Heshbon they have plotted evil against her:
            'Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation.'
      O Town of Madmen you will be silenced,
            the sword will pursue you.
3 The cries of despair from Horonaim are:
      'Devastation and great destruction!'
4 Moab is destroyed;
     her little ones will cry out.
5 For going up the Ascent of Luhith,
     there will be continual weeping;
      for at the Descent of Horonaim
     cries of distress will be heard
            because of the destruction.
6 Flee, save your lives,
     like a sole surviving juniper bush in the desert.
7 Because you trusted in your achievements and treasures,
           you also will be taken captive.
     Your god Chemosh will go into captivity too,
           along with its priests and attendants.
8 The destroyer will come on every town,
     and no town will escape;
      the valley also will perish,
     and the plain will be destroyed,
            just as the LORD has said.
9 Give wings to Moab,
           so that he may fly and get away.
      Her towns will become ruins,
           without anyone to live in them.
10 Cursed be one who is slack in doing the work of the LORD;
     cursed be the one who restrains his sword from bloodshed.
11 Moab has been at ease from his youth,
     like wine left to settle on its dregs,
            it has not been poured from flask to flask,
     neither has he gone into exile.
     Therefore it retains its flavor,
            and its aroma is unchanged.
12 Therefore, the days are coming," says the LORD,
     "that I will send to him those who pour it out,
            and they will pour him off;
            and they will empty it out,
            then break their jars in pieces.
13 Then Moab will be ashamed of their god Chemosh,
     as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.
14 How can you claim, 'We are heroes,
     valiant warriors?'
15 Moab will be destroyed,
           and they will scale into its cities.
      His chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter,"
           says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
16 "The disaster of Moab is coming near,
     and its doom quickly approaches.
17 All you who are around him, mourn for him,
     and all you who know his name, say,
      'How is the strong scepter broken,
     the splendid staff!'
18 Come down from your glory,
     sit on the parched ground,
            O daughter dwelling in Dibon.
      For the destroyer of Moab is come up against you,
           he has destroyed your strongholds.
19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the road and watch.
     Ask the man who flees,
      and the woman who escapes;
            'What happened?'
20 Moab is put to shame,
           for it is broken down.
      Wail and cry out.
     Proclaim it by the Wadi Arnon,
            'Moab has been destroyed.'
21 Judgment has come on the towns of the plain,
     on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,
22 on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,
23 on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,
24 on Kerioth, and Bozrah,
     and on all the towns of the land of Moab,
            far and near.
25 The horn of Moab is cut off,
     and his arm is broken," says the LORD.
26 "Get him drunk,
           for he has exalted himself against the LORD.
     Let Moab wallow in his own vomit,
            and become a laughingstock.
27 For was not Israel a laughingstock to you?
     Was he caught among thieves
     that whenever you spoke of him,
            you scornfully shook your head?
28 O inhabitants of Moab, leave your towns,
     dwell in the rocks;
      be like a dove that makes her nest on the cliffs of a gorge.
29 We have heard of the pride of Moab;
           indeed, he is very proud.
      His conceitedness, pride, arrogance,
           and the haughtiness of his heart are obvious.
30 I know his insolence," says the LORD,
     his bragging is empty;
            his boastings accomplish nothing.
31 Therefore I will wail for Moab;
     yes, I will cry out for all Moab;
     for the people of Kir-heres I will mourn.
32 More than Jazer weeps,
           I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah.
      Your branches extended to the Dead Sea,
           they reach even to the town of Jazer,
      even on your summer fruits and on your grape harvest
           the destroyer is fallen.
33 Gladness and joy is taken away
     from the fruitful orchards of the land of Moab.
      I have dried up wine from the winepresses;
     no one will tread them with shouts of joy;
            there will be shouting,
            but it will not be shouts of joy.
34 The cries of Heshbon to Elealeh can be heard,
     as far as Jahaz they utter their voice,
      from Zoar all the way to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah,
     for even the waters of Nimrim will become a waseland.
35 I will make an end of Moab," says the LORD,
     "those who sacrifice on the high places,
            and those who burn incense to their gods.
36 Therefore my heart grieves for Moab like the dirge of a flute,
     and like pipes mourning for the men of Kir-heres.
     Therefore the wealth they have gotten is gone.
37 For every head is shaved bald,
     and every beard cut off,
     on all the hands are slashings,
     and around their waists is sackcloth.
38 On all the housetops of Moab
     and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere;
      for I have broken Moab like an unwanted jar,"
says the LORD.
39 "How it shattered!
           O how they wail!
      How Moab has turned away in shame!
     So Moab has become an object of ridicule and horror
            to all who are around him."

40 For this is what the LORD says:
     "Look, he will swoop down like an eagle,
            and will spread his wings over Moab.
41 Kerioth will be captured,
           and the strongholds seized.
      The hearts of the warriors of Moab on that day
           will be like the heart of a woman having labor pains.
42 Moab will be destroyed as a people,
     because he has exalted himself against the LORD.
43 Terror, the pit, and the snare, is your destiny,
     O inhabitant of Moab," says the LORD.
44 "The one who flees from fear
     will fall into the pit;
            the one who climbs out of the pit
           will be taken by the snare.
      For I will bring on him, even on Moab,
           the year of their punishment," says the LORD.
45 "They who fled stand exhausted under the shadow of Heshbon;
     for a fire is gone out of Heshbon,
            and a flame from the hometown of Sihon.
     It will burn the forehead of Moab,
            and the skulls of the riotous rebels.
46 Woe to you, O Moab!
     The people of the god Chemosh are undone.
      For your sons are taken away captive,
           and your daughters into exile.
47 Yet I will bring back the exiles of Moab
           in the latter days," says the LORD.
     This is the end of the judgment on Moab.

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