Jeremiah 48
48
The Destruction of Moab
1 #
Is 15.1—16.14; 25.10–12; Ezek 25.8–11; Amos 2.1–3; Zeph 2.8–11 This is what the LORD Almighty said about Moab:
“Pity the people of Nebo —
their town is destroyed!
Kiriathaim is captured,
its mighty fortress torn down,
and its people put to shame;
2the splendour of Moab is gone.
The enemy have captured Heshbon
and plot to destroy the nation of Moab.
The town of Madmen will be silenced;
armies will march against it.
3The people of Horonaim cry out,
‘Violence! Destruction!’
4“Moab has been destroyed;
listen to the children crying.
5Hear the sound of their sobs
along the road up to Luhith,
the cries of distress
on the way down to Horonaim.
6‘Quick, run for your lives!’ they say.
‘Run like a wild desert donkey!’
7“Moab, you trusted in your strength and your wealth,
but now even you will be conquered;
your god Chemosh will go into exile,
along with his princes and priests.
8Not a town will escape the destruction;
both valley and plain will be ruined.
I, the LORD, have spoken.
9Set up a tombstone for Moab;
it will soon be destroyed.
Its towns will be left in ruins,
and no one will live there again.”
10(Curse those who do not do the LORD's work with all their heart! Curse those who do not slash and kill!)
The Cities of Moab are Destroyed
11The LORD said, “Moab has always lived secure and has never been taken into exile. Moab is like wine left to settle undisturbed and never poured from jar to jar. Its flavour has never been ruined, and it tastes as good as ever.
12“So now, the time is coming when I will send people to pour Moab out like wine. They will empty its wine jars and break them in pieces. 13Then the Moabites will be disillusioned with their god Chemosh, just as the Israelites were disillusioned with Bethel, a god in whom they trusted.
14“Men of Moab, why do you claim to be heroes,
brave soldiers tested in war?
15Moab and its cities are destroyed;
its finest young men have been slaughtered.
I am the king, the LORD Almighty,
and I have spoken.
16Moab's doom approaches;
its ruin is coming soon.
17“Mourn for that nation, you that live near by,
all of you that know its fame.
Say, ‘Its powerful rule has been broken;
its glory and might are no more.’
18You that live in Dibon,
come down from your place of honour
and sit on the ground in the dust;
Moab's destroyer is here
and has left its forts in ruins.
19You that live in Aroer,
stand by the road and wait;
ask those who are running away,
find out from them what has happened.
20‘Moab has fallen,’ they will answer,
‘weep for it; it is disgraced.
Announce along the River Arnon
that Moab is destroyed!’
21“Judgement has come on the cities of the plateau: on Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath, 22Dibon, Nebo, Beth Diblathaim, 23Kiriathaim, Bethgamul, Bethmeon, 24Kerioth, and Bozrah. Judgement has come on all the cities of Moab, far and near. 25Moab's might has been crushed; its power has been destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
Moab will be Humbled
26The LORD said, “Make Moab drunk, because it has rebelled against me. Moab will roll in its own vomit, and people will laugh. 27Moab, remember how you jeered at the people of Israel? You treated them as though they had been caught with a gang of robbers.
28“You people who live in Moab, leave your towns! Go and live on the cliffs! Be like the dove that makes its nest in the sides of a ravine. 29Moab is very proud! I have heard how proud, arrogant, and conceited the people are, how much they think of themselves. 30I, the LORD, know of their arrogance. Their boasts amount to nothing, and the things they do will not last. 31And so I will weep for everyone in Moab and for the people of Kir Heres. 32I will cry for the people of Sibmah, even more than for the people of Jazer. City of Sibmah, you are like a vine whose branches reach across the Dead Sea and go as far as Jazer. But now your summer fruits and your grapes have been destroyed. 33Happiness and joy have been taken away from the fertile land of Moab. I have made the wine stop flowing from the winepresses; there is no one to make the wine and shout for joy.
34“The people of Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,#48.34 Probable text Heshbon… cry out; Hebrew unclear. and their cry can be heard as far as Jahaz; it can be heard by the people in Zoar, and it is heard as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah. Even the brook of Nimrim has dried up. 35I will stop the people of Moab from making burnt offerings at their places of worship and from offering sacrifices to their gods. I, the LORD, have spoken.
36“So my heart mourns for Moab and for the people of Kir Heres, like someone playing a funeral song on a flute, because everything they owned is gone. 37All of them have shaved their heads and cut off their beards. They have all made gashes on their hands, and everyone is wearing sackcloth. 38On all the housetops of Moab and in all its public squares there is nothing but mourning, because I have broken Moab like a jar that no one wants. 39Moab has been shattered! Cry out! Moab has been disgraced. It is in ruins, and all the surrounding nations jeer at it. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
No Escape for Moab
40The LORD has promised that a nation will swoop down on Moab like an eagle with its outspread wings, 41and the towns and fortresses will be captured. On that day Moab's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labour. 42Moab will be destroyed and will no longer be a nation, because it rebelled against me. 43Terror, pits, and traps are waiting for the people of Moab. The LORD has spoken. 44Whoever tries to escape the terror will fall into the pits, and whoever climbs out of the pits will be caught in the traps, because the LORD has set the time for Moab's destruction. 45Helpless refugees try to find protection in Heshbon, the city that King Sihon once ruled, but it is in flames.#48.45 Heshbon, the city… flames; or the city of Heshbon, but it is in flames and the palace of King Sihon is burning. Fire has burnt up the frontiers and the mountain heights of the war-loving people of Moab. 46Pity the people of Moab! The people who worshipped Chemosh have been destroyed, and their sons and daughters have been taken away as prisoners.
47But in days to come the LORD will make Moab prosperous again. All of this is what the LORD has said will happen to Moab.
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Jeremiah 48: GNBDC
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 48
48
1Concerning Mo’aḇ. This is what יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl said, “Woe to Neḇo! For it is ravaged, Qiryathayim is put to shame, captured. The high stronghold is put to shame and broken down.
2“There is praise for Mo’aḇ no longer. In Ḥeshbon they have devised evil against her, ‘Come and let us cut it off as a nation.’ O Maḏmĕn, you are also cut off, a sword goes after you.
3“Listen! An outcry from Ḥoronayim, ravaging and great destruction!
4“Mo’aḇ shall be destroyed, her little ones shall cry out.
5“For on the ascent to Luḥith they go up weeping bitterly. For in the descent of Ḥoronayim the enemies shall hear a cry of destruction.
6“Flee, deliver your own lives! And be like a bush in the wilderness.
7“For because you have trusted in your works and your treasures, you shall be captured. And Kemosh shall go forth into exile, his priests and his heads together.
8“And a ravager shall come into every city, no one escapes. And the valley shall perish, and the plain be destroyed, as יהוה has spoken.
9“Give wings to Mo’aḇ, for she has to flee away, and her cities become a ruin, with no one to dwell in them.
10(Cursed is he who is slack in doing the work of יהוה, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from blood).
11“Mo’aḇ has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile. Therefore his flavour has stayed in him, and his fragrance is unchanged.
12“Therefore see, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when I shall send him tilters, who shall tilt him over and empty his vessels and break the bottles.
13“And Mo’aḇ shall be ashamed because of Kemosh, as the house of Yisra’ĕl was ashamed of Bĕyth Ěl, their refuge.
14“How do you say, ‘We are mighty and strong men for battle’?
15“Mo’aḇ is ravaged and her cities have been entered. And her chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,” declares the Sovereign, whose Name is יהוה of hosts.
16“The calamity of Mo’aḇ is near to come and his affliction hurries fast.
17“Lament for him, all you who are around him. And all you who know his name, say, ‘How the strong sceptre has been broken, the staff of splendour!’
18“Come down from your esteem, and sit in thirst, O inhabitant, daughter of Diḇon. For the ravager of Mo’aḇ shall come against you, he shall destroy your strongholds.
19“Stand by the way and watch, O inhabitant of Aro‛ĕr. Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, ‘What has been done?’
20“Mo’aḇ has been put to shame, for it has been broken down. Howl and cry! Let it be heard in Arnon that Mo’aḇ is ravaged.
21“And judgment has come on the plain country, on Ḥolon and on Yaḥtsah and on Mopha‛ath,
22and on Diḇon and Neḇo and on Bĕyth Diḇlathayim,
23and on Qiryathayim and on Bĕyth Gamul and on Bĕyth Me‛on,
24and on Qeriyoth and on Botsrah, and on all the cities of the land of Mo’aḇ, far or near.
25“The horn of Mo’aḇ has been cut off, and his arm has been broken,” declares יהוה.
26“Make him drunk, because he has made himself great against יהוה. Mo’aḇ shall splash in his vomit, and he shall also be in mockery.
27“And was not Yisra’ĕl a mockery to you? Was he found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him, you shake your head.
28“O inhabitants of Mo’aḇ, leave the cities and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove making a nest in the sides of the cave’s mouth.
29“We have heard of the pride of Mo’aḇ (he is very proud!), of his loftiness and arrogance and pride, and of the haughtiness of his heart.”
30“I know his wrath,” declares יהוה, “and his boastings are untrue, and his deeds are false.
31“Therefore I wail for Mo’aḇ, and I cry out for all Mo’aḇ. I mourn for the men of Qir Ḥeres.
32“O vine of Siḇmah! I weep for you with the weeping of Ya‛zĕr. Your branches have passed over the sea, they have come to the sea of Ya‛zĕr. The ravager has fallen on your summer fruit and your grape harvest.
33“Joy and gladness have been taken away from the orchard and from the land of Mo’aḇ. And I have made wine to cease from the winepresses. No one treads with shouting – the shouting is no shouting!
34“From the outcry of Ḥeshbon unto El‛alĕh, unto Yahats, they shall raise their voice, from Tso‛ar to Ḥoronayim, like a three-year-old heifer, for even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.
35“And I shall make an end in Mo’aḇ to him who offers in the high places and burns incense to his mighty ones,” declares יהוה.
36“So My heart sounds for Mo’aḇ like flutes, and My heart sounds for the men of Qir Ḥeres like flutes. Therefore the wealth they made shall be gone.
37“For every head is bald, and every beard clipped – cuts on all the hands, and sackcloth on the loins.
38“On all the house-tops of Mo’aḇ and in its streets it is all lamentation, for I have broken Mo’aḇ like a vessel in which no one delights,” declares יהוה.
39“How has she been broken down! They shall wail! How has Mo’aḇ turned her back with shame! So Mo’aḇ shall be a mockery and a horror to all those about her.”
40For thus said יהוה, “See, he soars like an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Mo’aḇ.
41“Qeriyoth shall be captured, and the strongholds seized. And the heart of the mighty men in Mo’aḇ on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in labour.
42“And Mo’aḇ shall be destroyed as a people, because he has made himself great against יהוה.
43“Fear and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of Mo’aḇ,” declares יהוה.
44“He who flees from the fear falls into the pit, and he who gets out of the pit is caught in the snare. For I am bringing upon Mo’aḇ the year of their punishment,” declares יהוה.
45“Those who fled stood powerless under the shadow of Ḥeshbon. But a fire shall come out of Ḥeshbon, and a flame from the midst of Siḥon, and consume the brow of Mo’aḇ and the crown of the head of the sons of uproar.
46“Woe to you, O Mo’aḇ! The people of Kemosh have perished, for your sons have been taken into exile, and your daughters into exile.
47“But I shall turn back the captivity of Mo’aḇ in the latter days,” declares יהוה. Thus far is the judgment of Mo’aḇ.
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