Jeremiah 48
48
Against Moab.#Moab, located east of the Dead Sea, was one of Israel’s bitter enemies (cf., e.g., Is 15–16; Am 2:1–3). According to Flavius Josephus, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Moab and Ammon in his twenty-third year (582 B.C.), five years after the destruction of Jerusalem. This chapter is full of local place names in Moab. 1Concerning Moab. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Ah, Nebo! it is ravaged;
Kiriathaim is disgraced, captured;
Disgraced and overthrown is the stronghold:
2Moab’s glory is no more.
In Heshbon they plot evil against her:
“Come! We will put an end to her as a nation.”
You, too, Madmen,#Madmen: a place name, not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament. shall be silenced;
you the sword stalks!
3Listen! an outcry from Horonaim,#Is 15:5.
“Ruin and great destruction!”
4“Moab is crushed!”
their outcry is heard in Zoar.
5Up the ascent of Luhith
they go weeping;
At the descent to Horonaim
they hear cries of anguish:
6“Flee, save your lives!
Be like a wild donkey in the wilderness!”
7Because you trusted in your works and your treasures,
you also shall be captured.
Chemosh#Chemosh: chief god of Moab (cf. Nm 21:29). shall go into exile,
his priests and princes with him.#Nm 21:29.
8The destroyer comes upon every city,
not a city escapes;
Ruined is the valley,
wasted the plateau—oracle of the Lord.
9Set up a tombstone for Moab;
it will soon become a complete wasteland,
Its cities turned into ruins
where no one dwells.
10Cursed are they who do the Lord’s work carelessly,
cursed those who keep their sword from shedding blood.
11#Moabite wine was known for its high quality. Here the wine is a metaphor for Moab’s complacency. Moab has been resting from its youth,
suspended above its dregs,
Never poured from flask to flask,
never driven into exile.
Thus it retained its flavor,
its bouquet is not lost.#Zep 1:12.
12Be assured! The days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will send him wine-makers to decant the wine; they shall empty its flasks and smash its jars. 13Chemosh shall disappoint Moab, just as the house of Israel was disappointed by Bethel, in which they trusted.#Is 16:12.
14How can you say, “We are heroes,
mighty warriors”?
15The one who ravages Moab and its cities comes up,
the best of its youth go down to slaughter—
oracle of the King, whose name is Lord of hosts.
16Moab’s ruin is near at hand,
its disaster approaches swiftly.
17Mourn, all you neighbors,
all you who know its name!
Say: How the mighty scepter is broken,
the glorious staff!
18Come down from glory, sit on the parched ground,
enthroned daughter Dibon;#Dibon, the capital of Moab at that time, is situated on a height. The prophet here offers a personification of the city, pictured as a confident ruler.
Moab’s destroyer has fallen upon you,
has shattered your strongholds.#Nm 21:30.
19Stand along the road, keep watch,
enthroned Aroer;
Ask the fleeing man, the escaping woman:
ask them what has happened.#Dt 2:36.
20“Moab is put to shame, destroyed.”
Wail and cry out,
Proclaim it at the Arnon:
“Moab is destroyed!”#Is 16:7.
21Judgment has come upon the plateau: on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,#Is 15:4. 22on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, 24on Kerioth and on Bozrah: on all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.
25The horn of Moab is cut off,
its arm is broken—oracle of the Lord.
26Make him drunk because he set himself over against the Lord; let Moab swim in his vomit and become a laughingstock. 27Has Israel not been a laughingstock to you? Was he caught among thieves that you wag your heads whenever you speak of him?#Zep 2:8–10.
28Abandon the cities, take shelter in the crags,
inhabitants of Moab.
Be like the dove that nests
in the walls of a gorge.
29We have heard of the pride of Moab,#Is 16:6.
pride beyond bounds:
His loftiness, his pride, his scorn,
his insolent heart.
30I myself know his arrogance—oracle of the Lord—
liar in word, liar in deed.
31And so I wail over Moab,
over all Moab I cry,
over the people of Kir-heres I moan.#Is 16:7.
32More than for Jazer I weep for you,
vine of Sibmah.
Your tendrils trailed down to the sea,
as far as Jazer they stretched.
Upon your summer harvest and your vintage,
the destroyer has fallen.#Is 16:8–9.
33Joy and gladness are taken away
from the garden land, the land of Moab.
I dry up the wine from the wine vats,
the treader treads no more,
the vintage shout is stilled.
34The cry of Heshbon and Elealeh is heard as far as Jahaz; they call from Zoar to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah; even the waters of Nimrim turn into a wasteland.#Is 15:4–5. 35I will leave no one in Moab—oracle of the Lord—to offer burnt offerings on the high place or to make sacrifices to their gods. 36Hence my heart wails like a flute for Moab; my heart wails like a flute for the people of Kir-heres: the wealth they accumulated has perished.#Is 16:11. 37Every head has been shaved bald, every beard cut off; every hand gashed, and all their loins are draped in sackcloth.#Jer 47:5; Is 15:2–3; Ez 7:18. 38On all the rooftops of Moab and in all its squares there is mourning. I have shattered Moab like a pot that no one wants—oracle of the Lord. 39How terrified they are, how they wail! How Moab turns its back in shame! Moab has become a laughingstock and a horror to all its neighbors!
40For thus says the Lord:
Look there! Like an eagle he swoops,
spreading his wings over Moab.#Jer 49:22.
41Cities are captured,
strongholds seized:
On that day the hearts of Moab’s warriors
become like the heart of a woman in labor.#Jer 6:24; 30:6.
42Moab shall be wiped out, a people no more,
because it set itself over against the Lord.#Zep 2:9–10.
43Terror, pit, and trap be upon you,
enthroned Moab—oracle of the Lord.#Is 24:17–18.
44Those fleeing the terror
fall into the pit;
Those climbing out of the pit
are caught in the trap;
Ah, yes! I will bring these things upon Moab
in the year of their punishment—oracle of the Lord.
45In Heshbon’s shadow the fugitives
stop short, exhausted;
For fire blazes up from Heshbon,
and flames up from the house of Sihon:
It consumes the forehead of Moab,
the scalp of the noisemakers.#Nm 21:28–29.
46Woe to you, Moab!
You are finished, people of Chemosh!
Your sons are taken into exile,
your daughters into captivity.
47Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in the days to come—oracle of the Lord.#Jer 49:39.
Thus far the judgment on Moab.
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Jeremiah 48
48
1Concerning Moab: ‘Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Woe unto Nebo, for it is spoiled, Put to shame, captured hath been Kiriathaim, Put to shame hath been the high tower, Yea, it hath been broken down.
2There is no more praise of Moab, In Heshbon they devised against it evil: Come, and we cut it off from [being] a nation, Also, O Madmen, thou art cut off, After thee goeth a sword.
3A voice of a cry [is] from Horonaim, Spoiling and great destruction.
4Destroyed hath been Moab, Caused a cry to be heard have her little ones.
5For the ascent of Luhith with weeping, Go up doth weeping, For in the descent of Horonaim Adversaries a cry of desolation have heard.
6Flee ye, deliver yourselves, Ye are as a naked thing in a wilderness.
7For, because of thy trusting in thy works, And in thy treasures, even thou art captured, And gone out hath Chemosh in a removal, His priests and his heads together.
8And come in doth a spoiler unto every city, And no city doth escape, And perished hath the valley, And destroyed been the plain, as Jehovah said.
9Give wings to Moab, for she utterly goeth out, And her cities are for a desolation, Without an inhabitant in them.
10Cursed [is] he who is doing the work of Jehovah slothfully, And cursed [is] he Who is withholding his sword from blood.
11Secure is Moab from his youth, And at rest [is] he for his preserved things, And he hath not been emptied out from vessel unto vessel, And into captivity he hath not gone, Therefore hath his taste remained in him, And his fragrance hath not been changed.
12Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have sent to him wanderers, And they have caused him to wander, And his vessels they empty out, And his bottles they dash in pieces.
13And ashamed hath been Moab because of Chemosh, As the house of Israel have been ashamed Because of Beth-El their confidence.
14How do ye say, We [are] mighty, And men of strength for battle?
15Spoiled is Moab, and her cities hath one gone up, And the choice of its young men Have gone down to slaughter, An affirmation of the King, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name.
16Near is the calamity of Moab to come, And his affliction hath hasted exceedingly.
17Bemoan for him, all ye round about him, And all knowing his name, say ye: How hath it been broken, the staff of strength, The rod of beauty.
18Come down from honour, sit in thirst, O inhabitant, daughter of Dibon, For a spoiler of Moab hath come up to thee, He hath destroyed thy fenced places.
19On the way stand, and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer, Ask the fugitive and escaped, Say, What hath happened?
20Put to shame hath been Moab, For it hath been broken down, Howl and cry, declare ye in Arnon, For spoiled is Moab,
21And judgment hath come in unto the land of the plain — unto Holon, And unto Jahazah, and on Mephaath,
22And on Dibon, and on Nebo, And on Beth-Diblathaim, and on Kirathaim,
23And on Beth-Gamul, and on Beth-Meon,
24And on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, And on all cities of the land of Moab, The far off and the near.
25Cut down hath been the horn of Moab, And his arm hath been broken, An affirmation of Jehovah.
26Declare ye him drunk, For against Jehovah he made himself great And Moab hath stricken in his vomit, And he hath been for a derision — even he.
27And was not Israel the derision to thee? Among thieves was he found? For since thy words concerning him, Thou dost bemoan thyself.
28Forsake cities, and dwell in a rock, Ye inhabitants of Moab, And be as a dove making a nest in the passages of a pit's mouth.
29We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, Exceeding proud! His haughtiness, and his arrogance, And his pride, and the height of his heart,
30I — I have known, an affirmation of Jehovah, His wrath, and [it is] not right, His devices — not right they have done.
31Therefore for Moab I howl, even for Moab — all of it, I cry for men of Kir-Heres, it doth mourn,
32With the weeping of Jazer, I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah, Thy branches have passed over a sea, Unto the sea of Jazer they have come, On thy summer fruits, and on thy harvest, A spoiler hath fallen.
33And removed hath been joy and gladness From the fruitful field, Even from the land of Moab, And wine from wine-presses I have caused to cease, Shouting doth not proceed, The shouting [is] no shouting!
34Because of the cry of Heshbon unto Elealeh, Unto Jahaz they have given their voice, From Zoar unto Horonaim, A heifer of the third [year], For even waters of Nimrim become desolations.
35And I have caused to cease to Moab, An affirmation of Jehovah, Him who is offering in a high place, And him who is making perfume to his god.
36Therefore my heart for Moab as pipes doth sound, And my heart for men of Kir-Heres As pipes doth sound, Therefore the abundance he made did perish.
37For every head [is] bald, and every beard diminished, On all hands cuttings, and on the loins — sackcloth.
38On all roofs of Moab, and in her broad-places, All of it — [is] lamentation, For I have broken Moab as a vessel in which there is no pleasure, An affirmation of Jehovah.
39How hath it been broken down! they have howled, How hath Moab turned the neck ashamed, And Moab hath been for a derision. And for a terror to all round about her.
40For thus said Jehovah: Lo, as an eagle he doth flee, And hath spread his wings unto Moab.
41Captured have been the cities, And the strongholds are caught, And the heart of the mighty of Moab Hath been in that day as the heart of a distressed woman.
42And Moab hath been destroyed from [being] a people, For against Jehovah he exerted himself.
43Fear, and a snare, and a gin, [are] for thee, O inhabitant of Moab — an affirmation of Jehovah,
44Whoso is fleeing because of the fear falleth into the snare, And whoso is coming up from the snare is captured by the gin, For I bring in unto her — unto Moab — The year of their inspection, An affirmation of Jehovah.
45In the shadow of Heshbon stood powerless have fugitives, For fire hath gone forth from Heshbon, And a flame from within Sihon, And it consumeth the corner of Moab, And the crown of the sons of Shaon.
46Woe to thee, O Moab, Perished hath the people of Chemosh, For thy sons were taken with the captives, And thy daughters with the captivity.
47And I have turned back [to] the captivity of Moab, In the latter end of the days, An affirmation of Jehovah! Hitherto [is] the judgment of Moab.
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