Moab Destroyed
1 Sendthe lamb to the ruler of the land,
# From Sela to the wilderness,
To the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 For it shall be as awandering bird thrown out of the nest;
# Soshall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of theArnon.
3 “Take counsel, execute judgment;
Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day;
Hide the outcasts,
Do not betray him who escapes.
4 Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab;
Be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler.
For the extortioner is at an end,
Devastation ceases,
The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5 In mercythe throne will be established;
And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David,
# Judging and seeking justice and hasteningrighteousness.”
6 We have heard of thepride of Moab—
Heisvery proud—
Of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath;
# Buthis liesshallnotbeso.
7 Therefore Moab shallwail for Moab;
Everyone shall wail.
# For the foundationsof Kir Hareseth you shall mourn;
Surelytheyarestricken.
8 Forthe fields of Heshbon languish,
# Andthe vine of Sibmah;
The lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants,
Which have reached to Jazer
And wandered through the wilderness.
Her branches are stretched out,
# They are gone over thesea.
9 Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah,
With the weeping of Jazer;
I will drench you with my tears,
# O Heshbon and Elealeh;
For battle cries have fallen
Over your summer fruits and your harvest.
10 Gladness is taken away,
And joy from the plentiful field;
In the vineyards there will be no singing,
Nor will there be shouting;
No treaders will tread out wine in the presses;
I have made their shouting cease.
11 Thereforemy heart shall resound like a harp for Moab,
And my inner being for Kir Heres.
12 And it shall come to pass,
# When it is seen that Moab is weary onthe high place,
That he will come to his sanctuary to pray;
But he will not prevail.
13 Thisisthe word which theLordhas spoken concerning Moab since that time.
14 But now theLordhas spoken, saying, “Within three years,as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnantwillbevery smallandfeeble.”