¹ Of Moab. The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Sorrow on Nebo, for it has been made waste; Kiriathaim has been put to shame and is taken: the strong place is put to shame and broken down.

² The praise of Moab has come to an end; as for Heshbon, evil has been designed against her; come, let us put an end to her as a nation. But your mouth will be shut, O Madmen; the sword will go after you.

³ There is the sound of crying from Horonaim, wasting and great destruction;

⁴ Moab is broken; her cry has gone out to Zoar.

⁵ For by the slope of Luhith they will go up, weeping all the way; for on the way down to Horonaim the cry of destruction has come to their ears.

⁶ Go in flight, get away with your lives, and let your faces be turned to Aroer in the Arabah.

⁷ For because you have put your faith in your strong places, you, even you, will be taken: and Chemosh will go out as a prisoner, his priests and his rulers together.

⁸ And the attacker will come against every town, not one will be safe; and the valley will be made waste, and destruction will come to the lowland, as the Lord has said.

⁹ Put up a pillar for Moab, for she will come to a complete end: and her towns will become a waste, without anyone living in them.

¹⁰ Let him be cursed who does the Lord's work half-heartedly; let him be cursed who keeps back his sword from blood.

¹¹ From his earliest days, Moab has been living in comfort; like wine long stored he has not been drained from vessel to vessel, he has never gone away as a prisoner: so his taste is still in him, his smell is unchanged.

¹² So truly, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will send to him men who will have him turned over till there is no more wine in his vessels, and his wine-skins will be completely broken.

¹³ And Moab will be shamed on account of Chemosh, as the children of Israel were shamed on account of Beth-el their hope.

¹⁴ How say you, We are men of war and strong fighters?

¹⁵ He who makes Moab waste has gone up against her; and the best of her young men have gone down to their death, says the King, whose name is the Lord of armies.

¹⁶ The fate of Moab is near, and trouble is coming on him very quickly.

¹⁷ All you who are round about him, give signs of grief for him, and all you who have knowledge of his name, say, How is the strong rod broken, even the beautiful branch!

¹⁸ Come down from your glory, O people of Dibon, and take your seat in the place of the waste; for the attacker of Moab has gone up against you, sending destruction on your strong places.

¹⁹ O daughter of Aroer, take your station by the way, on the watch: questioning him who is in flight, and her who has got away safe, say, What has been done?

²⁰ Moab has been put to shame, she is broken: make loud sounds of grief, crying out for help; give the news in Arnon, that Moab has been made waste.

²¹ And punishment has come on the lowlands; on Holon and Jahzah, and on Mephaath,

²² And on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth-diblathaim,

²³ And on Kiriathaim, and on Beth-gamul, and on Beth-meon,

²⁴ And on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the towns of the land of Moab, far and near.

²⁵ The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says the Lord.

²⁶ Make him full of wine, for his heart has been lifted up against the Lord: and Moab will be rolling in the food he was not able to keep down, and everyone will be making sport of him.

²⁷ For did you not make sport of Israel? was he taken among thieves? for whenever you were talking about him, you were shaking your head over him.

²⁸ O people of Moab, go away from the towns and take cover in the rock; be like the dove of the Arabah, which makes her living-place in holes.

²⁹ We have had word of the pride of Moab, how great it is; how he is lifted up in pride; and his great opinion of himself, and that his heart is lifted up.

³⁰ I have knowledge of his wrath, says the Lord, that it is nothing; his high-sounding words have done nothing.

³¹ For this cause I will give cries of grief for Moab, crying out for Moab, even for all of it; I will be sorrowing for the men of Kir-heres.

³² My weeping for you, O vine of Sibmah, will be more than the weeping of Jazer: your branches have gone over the sea, stretching even to Jazer: destruction has come down on your summer fruits and your cut grapes.

³³ All joy is gone; no longer are they glad for the fertile field and for the land of Moab; I have made the wine come to an end from the crushing vessels: no longer will the grapes be crushed with the sound of glad voices.

³⁴ The cry of Heshbon comes even to Elealeh; to Jahaz their voice is sounding; from Zoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim will become dry.

³⁵ And I will put an end in Moab, says the Lord, to him who is making offerings in the high place and burning perfumes to his gods.

³⁶ So my heart is sounding for Moab like the sound of pipes, and my heart is sounding like pipes for the men of Kir-heres: for the wealth he has got for himself has come to an end.

³⁷ For everywhere the hair of the head and the hair of the face is cut off: on every hand there are wounds, and haircloth on every body.

³⁸ On all the house-tops of Moab and in its streets there is weeping everywhere; for Moab has been broken like a vessel in which there is no pleasure, says the Lord.

³⁹ How is it broken down! how is Moab's back turned in shame! so Moab will be a cause of sport and of fear to everyone round about him.

⁴⁰ For the Lord has said, See, he will come like an eagle in flight, stretching out his wings against Moab.

⁴¹ Kerioth is taken, and the strong places have been forced, and the hearts of Moab's men of war in that day will be like the heart of a woman in birth-pains.

⁴² And Moab will come to an end as a people, because he has been lifting himself up against the Lord.

⁴³ Fear and death and the net have come on you, O people of Moab, says the Lord.

⁴⁴ He who goes in flight from the fear will be overtaken by death; and he who gets free from death will be taken in the net: for I will make this come on Moab, even the year of their punishment, says the Lord.

⁴⁵ Those who went in flight from the fear are waiting under the shade of Heshbon: for a fire has gone out from Heshbon and a flame from the house of Sihon, burning up the pride of Moab and the crown of the head of the violent ones.

⁴⁶ Sorrow is yours, O Moab! the people of Chemosh are overcome: for your sons have been taken away as prisoners, and your daughters made servants.

⁴⁷ But still, I will let the fate of Moab be changed in the last days, says the Lord.

¹ The word which came to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah king of Judah; this was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon.

² This word Jeremiah gave out to all the people of Judah and to those living in Jerusalem, saying,

³ From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, even till this day, for twenty-three years, the word of the Lord has been coming to me, and I have given it to you, getting up early and talking to you; but you have not given ear.

⁴ And the Lord has sent to you all his servants the prophets, getting up early and sending them; but you have not given attention and your ear has not been open to give hearing;

⁵ Saying, Come back now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your doings, and keep your place in the land which the Lord has given to you and to your fathers, from times long past even for ever:

⁶ Do not go after other gods to be their servants and to give them worship, and do not make me angry with the work of your hands, causing evil to yourselves.

⁷ But you have not given ear to me, says the Lord; so that you have made me angry with the work of your hands, causing evil to yourselves.

⁸ So this is what the Lord of armies has said: Because you have not given ear to my words,

⁹ See, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, my servant, and make them come against this land, and against its people, and against all these nations on every side; and I will give them up to complete destruction, and make them a cause of fear and surprise and a waste place for ever.

¹⁰ And more than this, I will take from them the sound of laughing voices, the voice of joy, the voice of the newly-married man, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the stones crushing the grain, and the shining of lights.

¹¹ All this land will be a waste and a cause of wonder; and these nations will be the servants of the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹² And it will come about, after seventy years are ended, that I will send punishment on the king of Babylon, and on that nation, says the Lord, for their evil-doing, and on the land of the Chaldaeans; and I will make it a waste for ever.

¹³ And I will make that land undergo everything I have said against it, even everything recorded in this book, which Jeremiah the prophet has said against all the nations.

¹⁴ For a number of nations and great kings will make servants of them, even of them: and I will give them the reward of their acts, even the reward of the work of their hands.

¹⁵ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said to me: Take the cup of the wine of this wrath from my hand, and make all the nations to whom I send you take of it.

¹⁶ And after drinking it, they will go rolling from side to side, and be off their heads, because of the sword which I will send among them.

¹⁷ Then I took the cup from the Lord's hand, and gave a drink from it to all the nations to whom the Lord sent me;

¹⁸ Jerusalem and the towns of Judah and their kings and their princes, to make them a waste place, a cause of fear and surprise and a curse, as it is this day;

¹⁹ Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants and his princes and all his people;

²⁰ And all the mixed people and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon and Gaza and Ekron and the rest of Ashdod;

²¹ Edom and Moab and the children of Ammon,

²² And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the lands across the sea;

²³ Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all who have the ends of their hair cut;

²⁴ And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people living in the waste land;

²⁵ And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

²⁶ And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

²⁷ And you are to say to them, This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Take of this cup and be overcome, and let it come out again from your lips, and from your fall you will never be lifted up again, because of the sword which I will send among you.

²⁸ And it will be, if they will not take of the cup in your hand, then you are to say to them, This is what the Lord of armies has said: You will certainly take of it.

²⁹ For see, I am starting to send evil on the town which is named by my name, and are you to be without any punishment? You will not be without punishment: for I will send a sword on all people living on the earth, says the Lord of armies.

³⁰ So, as a prophet, give out these words among them, and say to them, The voice of the Lord will be sounding like a lion from on high; he will send out his voice from his holy place, like the loud voice of a lion, against his flock; he will give a cry, like those who are crushing the grapes, against all the people of the earth.

³¹ A noise will come, even to the end of the earth; for the Lord has a cause against the nations, he will give his decision against all flesh; as for the evil-doers, he will give them to the sword, says the Lord.

³² This is what the Lord of armies has said: See, evil is going out from nation to nation, and a great storm will come up from the inmost parts of the earth.

³³ And at that day, the bodies of those whom the Lord has put to death will be seen from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: there will be no weeping for them, their bodies will not be taken up or put to rest in the earth; they will be like waste on the face of the land.

³⁴ Give cries of grief, you keepers of sheep; give cries for help, rolling yourselves in the dust, you chiefs of the flock: for the days of your destruction have fully come, and I will send you in all directions, and your fall will be like that of the males of the flock.

³⁵ There will be no way of flight for the keepers of sheep, no road for the chiefs of the flock to get away safely.

³⁶ A sound of the cry of the keepers of sheep, and the bitter crying of the chiefs of the flock! for the Lord has made waste their green fields.

³⁷ And there is no sound in the fields of peace, because of the burning wrath of the Lord.

³⁸ The lion has come out of his secret place, for the land has become a waste because of the cruel sword, and because of the heat of his wrath.