Jeremiah 48
48
Prophecies against Moab
1About Moab, # Gn 19:37; Nm 22:1; 24:17; 25:1; Dt 23:3; 34:5-6; Jdg 3:30; Rt 1:2; 2Sm 8:2; 1Kg 11:7; 2Kg 1:1; Is 15:1; Ezk 25:8-11; Am 2:1-2; Zph 2:8-9 this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:
Woe to Nebo, # Nm 32:3; Jr 48:22 because it is about to be destroyed;
Kiriathaim will be put to shame; # Nm 32:37; Jr 48:23; Ezk 25:9 it will be taken captive.
The fortress will be put to shame and dismayed!
2There is no longer praise for Moab;
they plan harm against her in Heshbon: # Jr 48:34,45; 49:3
Come, let’s cut her off from nationhood.
Also, Madmen, # A city in Moab you will be silenced;
the sword will pursue # Jr 29:18; Am 1:11 you.
3A voice cries out from Horonaim, # Is 15:5; Jr 48:34
“devastation and great disaster!” # Jr 51:54
4Moab will be shattered;
her little ones will cry out.
5For on the Ascent to Luhith
they will be weeping continually, # Lit Luhith, weeping goes up with weeping
and on the descent to Horonaim
will be heard cries of distress over the destruction: # Is 15:5
6Flee! Save your lives! # Jr 51:6,45
Be like a juniper bush # Or like Aroer ; Is 17:2; Jr 48:19 # Is 41:19; Jr 17:6 in the wilderness.
7Because you trust in your works # LXX reads strongholds and treasures,
you will be captured also.
Chemosh # Nm 1:29; Jdg 11:24; 1Kg 11:7,33; 2Kg 23:13; Jr 48:13,45-47 will go into exile
with his priests and officials. # Jr 49:3
8The destroyer # Jr 6:26; 48:15,18,32 will move against every town;
not one town will escape.
The valley will perish,
and the plain will be annihilated, # Jos 13:9,17,21
as the Lord has said.
9Make Moab a salt marsh, # LXX reads a sign ; Vg reads a flower ; Syr, Tg read a crown # Jdg 9:45; Jr 17:6; Ezk 47:11; Zph 2:9
for she will run away; # Hb obscure
her towns will become a desolation,
without inhabitant. # Jos 8:26; Is 5:9; 6:11; Jr 2:15; 4:29; 6:8; 33:10; 34:22; 44:2,22; 51:37; Zph 3:6
10The one who does
the Lord’s business deceitfully # Or negligently is cursed, # 1Kg 20:42
and the one who withholds
his sword from bloodshed is cursed.
11Moab has been left quiet since his youth,
settled like wine on its dregs. # Ps 75:8; Zph 1:12
He hasn’t been poured from one container to another
or gone into exile.
So his taste has remained the same,
and his aroma hasn’t changed.
12Therefore look, the days are coming # Jr 7:32; 16:14; 19:6; 23:7; 49:2; 51:47,52 —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
when I will send those to him, who will pour him out.
They will empty his containers
and smash his jars.
13Moab will be put to shame because of Chemosh,
just as the house of Israel was put to shame
because of Bethel # 1Kg 12:28-33; 13:1-5; 2Kg 10:29; 23:15; Hs 410:15; Am 3:14; 4:4; 5:5-6 that they trusted in.
14How can you say, “We are warriors —
mighty men ready for battle”?
15The destroyer of Moab and its towns
has come up, # Or Moab is destroyed; he has come up against its city
and the best of its young men
have gone down to slaughter.
This is the King’s declaration;
Yahweh of Hosts is His name. # Jr 46:18; 51:57
16Moab’s calamity is near at hand;
his disaster is rushing swiftly.
17Mourn for him, all you surrounding nations,
everyone who knows his name.
Say: How the mighty scepter # Ps 110:2; Ezk 19:11-12,14 is shattered,
the glorious staff!
18Come down from glory; sit on parched ground,
resident of the daughter of Dibon, # Jos 13:8-9; Jr 46:19
for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;
he has destroyed your fortresses.
19Stand by the highway and look,
resident of Aroer! # Dt 2:36
Ask him who is fleeing or her who is escaping: # 1Sm 4:13,16
What happened?
20Moab is put to shame, indeed dismayed.
Wail and cry out! # Is 14:31; Jr 25:34; 47:2; Ezk 21:12
Declare by the Arnon
that Moab is destroyed.
21“Judgment has come to the land of the plateau # Jos 13:17-19 — to Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath, 22Dibon, Nebo, Beth-diblathaim, 23Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, Beth-meon, # Jos 13:17 24Kerioth, # Jr 48:41; Am 2:2 Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, those far and near. 25Moab’s horn is chopped off; # Ps 75:10; Lm 2:3; Am 3:14 his arm is shattered.” # Ps 10:15; 37:17; Jb 38:15; Ezk 30:21-24
This is the Lord’s declaration.
26“Make him drunk, because he has exalted himself against the Lord. # Jr 48:42 Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock. 27Wasn’t Israel a laughingstock to you? # Gn 38: 23; Jb 12:4; Ps 44:14; Jr 20:7; 48:39; Lm 2:15-17; 3:14 Was he ever found among thieves? # Jr 2:26 For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.” # 2Kg 19:21; Jb 2:11; 16:4; 42:11; Ps 22:7; 64:8; 69:20; 109:25; Is 37:22; 51:19; Jr 15:5; 18:16; Lm 2:15; Nah 3:7
28Abandon the towns! Live in the cliffs,
residents of Moab!
Be like a dove
that nests inside the mouth of a cave. # Is 2:19-21
29We have heard of Moab’s pride,
great pride, indeed —
his insolence, arrogance, pride,
and haughty heart.
30I know his outburst.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
It is empty.
His boast is empty.
31Therefore, I will wail over Moab.
I will cry out for Moab, all of it;
he will moan for the men of Kir-heres.
32I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah,
with more than the weeping for Jazer.
Your tendrils have extended to the sea;
they have reached to the sea and to Jazer. # Some Hb mss read reached as far as Jazer
The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit and grape harvest.
33Joy and celebration are taken from the fertile field
and from the land of Moab.
I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses;
no one will tread with shouts of joy.
The shouting is not a shout of joy. # Is 16:7-10
34“There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices as far as Jahaz # Is 15:4-6 — from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah — because even the waters of Nimrim have become desolate. 35In Moab, I will stop” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “the one who offers sacrifices on the high place and burns incense to his gods. # Jr 11:12-13; 18:15 36Therefore, My heart moans like flutes for Moab, # Is 15:5 and My heart moans like flutes for the people of Kir-heres. And therefore, the wealth he has gained has perished. 37Indeed, every head is bald and every beard clipped; # Is 15:2-3; Jr 47:5 on every hand is a gash # Lv 19:28; 21:5; Jr 5:7; 41:5; 47:5 and sackcloth # Jr 4:8; 6:26; 49:3 around the waist. 38On all the rooftops of Moab and in her public squares, everyone is mourning because I have shattered Moab like a jar no one wants.” # Jr 22:28 This is the Lord’s declaration. 39“How broken it is! They wail! How Moab has turned his back! He is ashamed. Moab will become a laughingstock and a shock to all those around him.” # Is 16:6-11; Zph 2:9-10
40For this is what the Lord says:
He will swoop down like an eagle
and spread his wings against Moab. # Dt 28:49; Jr 49:22
41The towns have # Or Kerioth has been captured,
and the strongholds seized.
In that day the heart of Moab’s warriors
will be like the heart of a woman with contractions. # Is 13:8; Jr 49:22
42Moab will be destroyed as a people
because he has exalted himself against the Lord. # Jr 48:26
43Panic, # Jr 30:5; 49:5 pit, and trap
await you, resident of Moab.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
44He who flees from the panic will fall in the pit,
and he who climbs from the pit
will be captured in the trap,
for I will bring against Moab
the year of their punishment. # Jr 23:12
This is the Lord’s declaration. # Is 24:17-18
45Those who flee will stand exhausted in Heshbon’s shadow
because fire has come out from Heshbon
and a flame from within Sihon.
It will devour Moab’s forehead
and the skull of the noisemakers.
46Woe to you, Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished
because your sons have been taken captive
and your daughters have gone into captivity. # Nm 21:28-29
47Yet, I will restore the fortunes # Or will end the captivity of Moab in the last days. # Jr 49:6,39
This is the Lord’s declaration.
The judgment on Moab ends here.
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Jeremiah 48: HCSB
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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 48
48
Get Out While You Can!
1-10The Message on Moab from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel:
“Doom to Nebo! Leveled to the ground!
Kiriathaim demeaned and defeated,
The mighty fortress reduced to a molehill,
Moab’s glory—dust and ashes.
Conspirators plot Heshbon’s doom:
‘Come, let’s wipe Moab off the map.’
The city of Madmen will be struck mute,
as killing follows killing.
Listen! A cry out of Horonaim:
‘Disaster—doom and more doom!’
Moab will be shattered.
Her cries will be heard clear down in Zoar.
Up the ascent of Luhith
climbers weep,
And down the descent from Horonaim,
cries of loss and devastation.
Oh, run for your lives! Get out while you can!
Survive by your wits in the wild!
You trusted in thick walls and big money, yes?
But it won’t help you now.
Your big god Chemosh will be hauled off,
his priests and managers with him.
A wrecker will wreck every city.
Not a city will survive.
The valley fields will be ruined,
the plateau pastures destroyed, just as I told you.
Cover the land of Moab with salt.
Make sure nothing ever grows here again.
Her towns will all be ghost towns.
Nobody will ever live here again.
Sloppy work in God’s name is cursed,
and cursed all halfhearted use of the sword.
11-17“Moab has always taken it easy—
lazy as a dog in the sun,
Never had to work for a living,
never faced any trouble,
Never had to grow up,
never once worked up a sweat.
But those days are a thing of the past.
I’ll put him to work at hard labor.
That will wake him up to the world of hard knocks.
That will smash his illusions.
Moab will be as ashamed of god Chemosh
as Israel was ashamed of her Bethel calf-gods,
the calf-gods she thought were so great.
For how long do you think you’ll be saying, ‘We’re tough.
We can beat anyone anywhere’?
The destruction of Moab has already begun.
Her choice young soldiers are lying dead right now.”
The King’s Decree—
his full name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Yes. Moab’s doom is on countdown,
disaster targeted and launched.
Weep for Moab, friends and neighbors,
all who know how famous he’s been.
Lament, ‘His mighty scepter snapped in two like a toothpick,
that magnificent royal staff!’
18-20“Come down from your high horse, pampered beauty of Dibon.
Sit in dog dung.
The destroyer of Moab will come against you.
He’ll wreck your safe, secure houses.
Stand on the roadside,
pampered women of Aroer.
Interview the refugees who are running away.
Ask them, ‘What’s happened? And why?’
Moab will be an embarrassing memory, nothing left of the place.
Wail and weep your eyes out!
Tell the bad news along the Arnon river.
Tell the world that Moab is no more.
21-24“My judgment will come to the plateau cities: on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath; on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim; on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon; on Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of Moab, far and near.
25“Moab’s link to power is severed.
Moab’s arm is broken.” God’s Decree.
The Sheer Nothingness of Moab
26-27“Turn Moab into a drunken lush, drunk on the wine of my wrath, a dung-faced drunk, filling the country with vomit—Moab a falling-down drunk, a joke in bad taste. Wasn’t it you, Moab, who made crude jokes over Israel? And when they were caught in bad company, didn’t you cluck and gossip and snicker?
28“Leave town! Leave! Look for a home in the cliffs,
you who grew up in Moab.
Try living like a dove
who nests high in the river gorge.
29-33“We’ve all heard of Moab’s pride,
that legendary pride,
The strutting, bullying, puffed-up pride,
the insufferable arrogance.
I know”—God’s Decree—“his rooster-crowing pride,
the inflated claims, the sheer nothingness of Moab.
But I will weep for Moab,
yes, I will mourn for the people of Moab.
I will even mourn for the people of Kir-heres.
I’ll weep for the grapevines of Sibmah
and join Jazer in her weeping—
Grapevines that once reached the Dead Sea
with tendrils as far as Jazer.
Your summer fruit and your bursting grapes
will be looted by brutal plunderers,
Lush Moab stripped
of song and laughter.
And yes, I’ll shut down the winepresses,
stop all the shouts and hurrahs of harvest.
34“Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out, and the people in Jahaz will hear the cries. They will hear them all the way from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up.
35“I will put a stop in Moab”—God’s Decree—“to all hiking to the high places to offer burnt sacrifices to the gods.
36“My heart moans for Moab, for the men of Kir-heres, like soft flute sounds carried by the wind. They’ve lost it all. They’ve got nothing.
37“Everywhere you look are signs of mourning:
heads shaved, beards cut,
Hands scratched and bleeding,
clothes ripped and torn.
38“In every house in Moab there’ll be loud lamentation, on every street in Moab, loud lamentation. As with a pottery jug that no one wants, I’ll smash Moab to bits.” God’s Decree.
39“Moab ruined!
Moab shamed and ashamed to be seen!
Moab a cruel joke!
The stark horror of Moab!”
* * *
40-42 God’s verdict on Moab. Indeed!
“Look! An eagle is about to swoop down
and spread its wings over Moab.
The towns will be captured,
the fortresses taken.
Brave warriors will double up in pain, helpless to fight,
like a woman giving birth to a baby.
There’ll be nothing left of Moab, nothing at all,
because of his defiant arrogance against me.
43-44“Terror and pit and trap
are what you have facing you, Moab.” God’s Decree.
“A man running in terror
will fall into a trap.
A man climbing out of a pit
will be caught in a trap.
This is my agenda for Moab
on doomsday.” God’s Decree.
45-47“On the outskirts of Heshbon,
refugees will pull up short, worn out.
Fire will flame high from Heshbon,
a firestorm raging from the capital of Sihon’s kingdom.
It will burn off Moab’s eyebrows,
will scorch the skull of the braggarts.
That’s all for you, Moab!
You worshipers of Chemosh will be finished off!
Your sons will be trucked off to prison camps;
your daughters will be herded into exile.
But yet there’s a day that’s coming
when I’ll put things right in Moab.
“For now, that’s the judgment on Moab.”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.