Jeremiah 48
48
What the Lord Says about Moab
1 #
Is 15.1—16.14; 25.10-12; Ez 25.8-11; Am 2.1-3; Zep 2.8-11. The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, told me to say to the nation of Moab:
The town of Nebo is doomed;
Kiriathaim will be captured
and disgraced,
and even its fortress
will be left in ruins.
2No one honors you, Moab.
In Heshbon, enemies make plans
to end your life.
My sword will leave only silence
in your town named “Quiet.”#48.2 silence … Quiet: In Hebrew the name of the town was “Madmen,” which sounds like the word for “silence.”
3The people of Horonaim
will cry for help,
as their town is attacked
and destroyed.
4Moab will be shattered!
Your children will sob
5and cry on their way up
to the town of Luhith;
on the road to Horonaim
they will tell of disasters.
6Run for your lives!
Head into the desert
like a wild donkey.#48.6 like a wild donkey: One ancient translation; Hebrew “like (the town of) Aroer” (see verse 19).
7You thought you could be saved
by your power and wealth,
but you will be captured
along with your god Chemosh,
his priests, and officials.
8Not one of your towns
will escape destruction.
I have told your enemies,
“Wipe out the valley
and the flatlands of Moab.
9Spread salt on the ground
to kill the crops.#48.9 Spread salt … crops: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
Leave its towns in ruins,
with no one living there.
10I want you to kill the Moabites,
and if you let them escape,
I will put a curse on you.”
11Moab, you are like wine
left to settle undisturbed,
never poured from jar to jar.
And so, your nation continues
to prosper and improve.#48.11 continues … improve: Or “remains as evil as ever.”
12But now, I will send enemies
to pour out the wine
and smash the jars!
13Then you will be ashamed,
because your god Chemosh
cannot save you,
just as Bethel#48.13 Bethel: It may refer to the Phoenician or Canaanite god of that name; or it may refer to the town where people of the northern kingdom worshiped at a local shrine (see 1 Kings 12.26-30). could not help
the Israelites.
14You claim that your soldiers
are strong and brave.
15But I am the Lord,
the all-powerful King,
and I promise that enemies
will overpower your towns.
Even your best warriors
will die in the battle.
16It won't be long now—
disaster will hit Moab!
17I will order the nearby nations
to mourn for you and say,
“Isn't it sad? Moab ruled others,
but now its glorious power
has been shattered.”
18People in the town of Dibon,#48.18 Dibon: The capital city of Moab.
you will be honored no more,
so have a seat in the dust.
Your walls will be torn down
when the enemies attack.
19You people of Aroer,#48.19 Aroer: A Moabite town located just north of the Arnon River.
go wait beside the road,
and when refugees run by,
ask them, “What happened?”
20They will answer,
“Moab has been defeated!
Weep with us in shame.
Tell everyone at the Arnon River
that Moab is destroyed.”
21I will punish every town
that belongs to Moab,
but especially Holon,
Jahzah, Mephaath,
22Dibon, Nebo,
Beth-Diblathaim, 23Kiriathaim,
Beth-Gamul, Beth-Meon,
24Kerioth, and Bozrah.#48.24 Bozrah: Not the same Bozrah as in 49.13.
25My decision is final—
your army will be crushed,
and your power broken.
26People of Moab, you claim
to be stronger than I am.
Now I will tell other nations
to make you drunk
and to laugh while you collapse
in your own vomit.
27You made fun of my people
and treated them like criminals
caught in the act.
28Now you must leave your towns
and live like doves
in the shelter of cliffs
and canyons.
29I know about your pride,
and how you strut and boast.
30But I also know bragging
will never save you.
31So I will cry and mourn
for Moab
and its town of Kir-Heres.
32People of Sibmah,
you were like a vineyard
heavy with grapes,
and with branches reaching
north to the town of Jazer
and west to the Dead Sea.#48.32 reaching north … Dead Sea: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
But you have been destroyed,
and so I will weep for you,
as the people of Jazer weep
for the vineyards.
33Harvest celebrations are gone
from the orchards and farms
of Moab.
I have silenced the shouts
of people making wine.
34Weeping from Heshbon
can be heard as far
as Elealeh and Jahaz;
cries from Zoar are heard
in Horonaim
and Eglath-Shelishiyah.
And Nimrim Creek has run dry.
35I will get rid of anyone
who burns incense
to the gods of Moab
or offers sacrifices
at their shrines.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
36In my heart I moan for Moab,
like a funeral song
played on a flute.
I mourn for the people
of the town of Kir-Heres,
because their wealth is gone.
* 37-38The people of Moab
mourn on the rooftops
and in the streets.
Men cut off their beards,
people shave their heads;
they make cuts on their hands
and wear sackcloth.#48.37,38 sackcloth: See the note at 4.8.
And it's all because I, the Lord,
have shattered Moab like a jar
that no one wants.
39Moab lies broken!
Listen to its people cry
as they turn away in shame.
Other nations are horrified
at what happened,
but still they mock her.
40Moab, an enemy swoops down
like an eagle spreading its wings
over your land.
41Your cities#48.41 Your cities: Or “Kerioth.” and fortresses
will be captured,
and your warriors as fearful
as women giving birth.#48.41 as fearful … birth: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
42You are finished as a nation,
because you dared oppose me,
the Lord.
43Terror, pits, and traps
are waiting for you.
44If you are terrified and run,
you will fall into a pit;
and if you crawl out of the pit,
you'll get caught in a trap.
The time has come
for you to be punished.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
45Near the city of Heshbon,
where Sihon once ruled,
tired refugees stand in shadows
cast by the flames
of their burning city.
Soon, the towns on other hilltops,
where those warlike people live,
will also go up in smoke.
46People of Moab, you worshiped
Chemosh, your god,
but now you are done for,
and your children are prisoners
in a foreign country.
47Yet someday, I will bring
your people back home.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
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Jeremiah 48: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 48
48
Judgment on Moab
Isa 16:6–12
1#Nu 32:3; 32:37–38Concerning Moab:
Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel:
Woe to Nebo, for it is devastated.
Kiriathaim is humiliated and captured;
Misgab#Or the stronghold. is humiliated and dismayed.
2#Nu 32:37; Isa 16:14 There is no more praise for Moab;
in Heshbon they have devised evil against her:
“Come and let us cut it off from being a nation!”
Also you will be cut down, O Madmen.
The sword will pursue you.
3#Isa 15:5; Jer 48:34 A sound of crying will be from Horonaim:
“Devastation and great destruction!”
4“Moab is destroyed”;
her little ones have caused a cry of distress to be heard;
5#Isa 15:5 for by the Ascent of Luhith they will go up
with continual weeping;
for at the descent of Horonaim
they have heard a cry of destruction.
6#Jer 17:6; 51:6 Flee, save your lives,
and be like the juniper in the wilderness.
7#Nu 21:29; Jer 49:3 For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures,
you will also be captured;
and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity
together with his priests and his officials.
8#Jer 6:26 The destroyer will come upon every city,
and no city will escape.
The valley also will perish,
and the plain will be destroyed,
as the Lord has spoken.
9#Ps 11:1; Isa 16:2 Give wings to Moab,
that she may flee and get away;
for the cities will become desolate,
without any to dwell in them.
10#1Ki 20:42; Jdg 5:23 Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord negligently,
and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood.
11#Zep 1:12; Zec 1:15 Moab has been at ease from his youth,
and he has also been undisturbed,
like wine on its dregs,
and he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
nor has he gone into captivity.
Therefore his taste remained in him,
and his scent has not changed.
12Therefore, surely the days are coming,
says the Lord,
when I will send to him those who tip vessels,
and they will tip him over,
and will empty his vessels
and break his bottles.
13#Jdg 11:24; Isa 45:16 Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh,
as the house of Israel was ashamed
of Bethel, their confidence.
14#Ps 33:16; Isa 10:13 How do you say, “We are mighty
and strong men for the war”?
15#Jer 46:18; 50:27 Moab has been devastated and gone up out of her cities,
and her chosen young men have also gone down to the slaughter,
says the King whose name is the Lord of Hosts.
16#Isa 13:22 The calamity of Moab will come soon,
and his affliction hastens fast.
17#Isa 9:4 All you who are about him, mourn for him.
And all you who know his name,
say, “How the strong staff has been broken,
the beautiful rod!”
18#Nu 21:30; Isa 47:1 O daughter who inhabits Dibon,
come down from your glory
and sit on the parched ground,
for the destroyer of Moab
will come upon you,
and he will destroy your strongholds.
19#Dt 2:36; 1Sa 4:16 O inhabitant of Aroer,
stand by the road and keep watch.
Ask him who flees and her who escapes,
and say, “What has happened?”
20#Isa 16:2 Moab has been humiliated, for it has been broken down.
Howl and cry out.
Tell it in Arnon,
that Moab has been devastated.
21#Jos 13:18; Isa 15:4 And judgment has come upon the plain country:
upon Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath,
22#Nu 33:46; Jer 48:18 and Dibon and Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,
23#Jos 13:17; Jer 48:1 and Kiriathaim and Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,
24#Am 2:2; Jer 48:41 and Kerioth and Bozrah,
and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.
25#Ps 75:10; 10:15 The horn of Moab has been cut off
and his arm has been broken,
says the Lord.
26#Isa 19:14; 29:9 Make him drunk,
for he magnified himself against the Lord.
Moab also will wallow in his vomit,
and he also will be held in derision.
27#Jer 2:26; Mic 7:8–10 For was not Israel a derision to you?
Or was he caught among thieves?
For each time you speak of him,
you shake your head in scorn.
28#Jdg 6:2; Ps 55:6–7 O you who dwell in Moab,
leave the cities and dwell in the rock,
and be like the dove that makes her nest
in the sides of the hole’s mouth.
29#Isa 16:6; Ps 138:6 We have heard of the pride of Moab
(he is very proud),
of his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride,
and the haughtiness of his heart.
30#Jer 50:36 I know his wrath,
says the Lord,
but it is futile. His lies have accomplished nothing.
31#2Ki 3:25; Isa 15:5 Therefore I will howl for Moab,
and I will cry out for all Moab.
My heart shall mourn for the men of Kir Hareseth.
32#Isa 16:8–9; Nu 21:32 O vine of Sibmah,
I will weep for you more than the weeping of Jazer.
Your plants have stretched over the sea,
they reach even to the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruits
and upon your vintage.
33#Isa 5:10; Hag 2:16 Joy and gladness are taken away
from the plentiful field, even from the land of Moab,
and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses;
no one will tread with shouting.
Their shouting will not be shouts of joy.
34#Isa 15:4–6; Nu 32:3 From the outcry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, and even to Jahaz,
they have uttered their voice,
from Zoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath Shelishiyah;
for also the waters of Nimrim shall become desolate.
35#Isa 15:2; 16:12 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,
says the Lord,
him who offers sacrifice in the high place
and him who burns incense to his gods.
36#Isa 15:7; 16:11 Therefore My heart will wail for Moab like pipes,
and My heart will wail like pipes for the men of Kir Hareseth,
because the riches that they have gotten have perished.
37#Ge 37:34; Isa 15:2–3 For every head will be bald
and every beard clipped;
upon all the hands will be gashes,
and upon the loins sackcloth.
38#Jer 22:28; Isa 22:1 There will be lamentation everywhere
upon all the housetops of Moab
and in the streets,
for I have broken Moab
like a vessel in which is no pleasure,
says the Lord.
39How it is broken down! How they have wailed!
How Moab has turned his back with shame!
So Moab will be a derision
and a terror to all around him.
40#Dt 28:49; Isa 8:8For thus says the Lord:
Look, one will fly as an eagle
and spread his wings against Moab.
41#Isa 13:8; 21:3 Kerioth has been captured,
and the strongholds have been seized,
and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab in that day
will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
42#Jer 48:2; Isa 7:8 Moab will be destroyed from being a people
because he has magnified himself against the Lord.
43#Isa 24:17–18; La 3:47 Fear and the pit and the snare will be upon you,
O inhabitant of Moab,
says the Lord.
44#1Ki 19:17; Jer 11:23 He who flees from the terror
shall fall into the pit,
and he who gets up out of the pit
will be taken in the snare;
for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab,
the year of their punishment,
says the Lord.
45#Nu 24:17; 21:28 The fugitives stand without strength
under the shadow of Heshbon;
for a fire will come out of Heshbon
and a flame from the midst of Sihon,
and will devour the forehead of Moab
and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
46#Nu 21:29; Jdg 11:24 Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished;
for your sons have been taken away captive
and your daughters into captivity.
47#Jer 49:39; 49:6 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in the latter days,
says the Lord.
Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
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