- Jeremiah
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48
1 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Moab: Disaster is coming to the town of Nebo, because it will be destroyed. The town of Kiriathaim will be captured and humiliated; the fortress will be torn down and its people shamed. 2 No one praises Moab anymore. People in Heshbon are plotting, “We will destroy Moab as a nation. People of the town of Madmen, we will silence you too—you will be attacked by swords and chased down.”
3 Listen to the cries from Horonaim: “Violence and terrible destruction!” 4 Moab will be smashed. Hear the little ones crying for help. 5 People weep as they go up to Luhith; and as they come down to Horonaim their sad cries at the destruction echo around.
6 Run away! Save yourselves! Be like a scrawny tamarisk tree in the desert! 7 It's because you put your confidence in what you do and what you own that you too will be captured. Your god Chemosh will be taken into exile along with his priests and leaders. 8 The invaders will attack every town; not a single one will escape destruction. The valley will be ruined, and the plain will be destroyed, for the Lord has spoken.
9 Put up gravestones in Moab,* This is one of the most problematic lines in Jeremiah. Other proposed translations include, “Put salt on the land of Moab,” “Give Moab wings so it can fly away,” “Give a flower to Moab,” etc. The Septuagint translates “Set marks upon Moab,” or “Place signs on Moab.” because the country will become a wasteland. Its towns will be turned into ruins where no one lives. 10 A curse on those who don't do the Lord's work properly. A curse on those who don't use their swords to kill. 11 The people of Moab have been living comfortably since the country was founded. They're like wine that hasn't been disturbed, not poured from one container to another. So the taste and fragrance remains the same. They haven't experienced exile.
12 But watch out, the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will send them “winemakers” who will pour them out like wine. They will empty out the Moabites, and smash them like jars. 13 Then the Moabites will feel let down by Chemosh, just as the people of Israel felt let down when they trusted in the golden calf idol at Bethel.† See 1 Kings 12.
14 How on earth can you Moabites say, “We're heroes, strong men ready to fight in battle”? 15 Moab is going to be destroyed and its towns conquered. Its finest young men will be killed, declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty. 16 Moab's doom is about to happen; destruction is rushing down on them.
17 Mourn for them, all you surrounding nations, everyone who knows them! Let others know how the great scepter has been smashed, the rod that once proudly ruled!
18 Come down from your glory and sit on the dusty ground, you who live in Dibon, for Moab's destroyer will come and attack you, destroying your fortresses. 19 Stand at the roadside and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the men and women who are running away to escape, “What's happened?”
20 Moab has been humiliated because it has been defeated. Weep and wail! Shout out beside the River Arnon that Moab has been destroyed! 21 Punishment has arrived on the towns of the high plain—on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath, 22 on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23 on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, 24 on Kerioth, Bozrah, and on all the towns of Moab, whether far away or nearby.
25 Moab's strength is gone; their power has been broken, declares the Lord. 26 Make the people of Moab drunk, because they defied the Lord. Then they will roll around in their own vomit, as people laugh at them.
27 Didn't you Moabites used to ridicule the Israelites? But they weren't ever found to be thieves, were they? Yet whenever you talk about them, you shake your heads in contempt.
28 You people living in Moab, run from your towns, go and live among the rocks. Be like a dove nesting on the cliffs at the entrance to a ravine.
29 We know all about how pompous Moabites are, how extremely proud and conceited they are, arrogantly thinking so highly of themselves.
30 I'm well aware of how disrespectful they are, declares the Lord, but it doesn't matter. They make empty boasts, and what they do is just as empty.
31 So I will weep for Moab; I will cry out for all the Moabites; I will mourn for the people of Kir-heres. 32 will weep for you, people of the town of Sibmah with its vineyards, more than I weep for the town of Jazer. Your vines have spread to the sea, and all the way to Jazer. But the destroyer has stolen your harvest of summer fruit and grapes. 33 There's no more celebration and happiness in Moab's orchards and fields. I have stopped the grape juice flowing from the winepresses. No one shouts for joy as they tread out the grapes. No, their shouts now are not because of joy!
34 Cries for help reach from Heshbon to Elealeh and all the way to Jahaz. They're shouting out from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah, for even the water in the Nimrim Brook has dried up.
35 I'm going to finish off those in Moab who sacrifice on the pagan high places and burn incense to their gods, declares the Lord. 36 So I mourn inside like a flute playing a sad song for Moab; like a flute playing a funeral tune for the people of Kir-heres, because they've lost everything of value that they worked for.
37 As signs of their mourning,‡ “As signs of their mourning”: supplied for clarity. every head is shaved, every beard is trimmed, every hand has a gash, and every waist is wearing sackcloth. 38 Everyone is mourning on all the flat roofs and streets of Moab, because I have smashed the country like a jar nobody wants, declares the Lord.
39 Moab is completely shattered! Listen to them cry! See how the Moabites turn away in shame! All the surrounding nations are horrified at what's happened to the country, and ridicule its people.
40 This is what the Lord says: Watch as an enemy like an eagle swoops down, spreading its wings as it attacks Moab. 41 Kirioth has been conquered, and the fortresses captured. At that time Moab's warriors will be as scared as a woman in labor. 42 Moab will cease to exist as a nation because they defied the Lord.
43 You people living in Moab, what's waiting for you are terror, traps, and snares, declares the Lord. 44 You will run away in terror and fall into a trap, and when you climb out of the trap, you'll be caught in a snare. I will do this to the Moabites at the time when they're punished, declares the Lord.
45 Those who run away will be left defenseless in Heshbon where they went for protection, because fire blazes out from Heshbon, a fire from where Sihon once reigned. It burns up the whole country of Moab and its defiant people.§ Literally, “It consumes the foreheads of Moab and the skulls of the sons of tumult.”
46 What a disaster has come to you Moabites! The people of Chemosh have been wiped out. Your sons and daughters have been taken prisoner and have gone into exile.
47 But even so, later on, I will bring the people of Moab back from exile, declares the Lord. This is the end of the description of the judgment on Moab.

- Jeremiah
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*48:9 This is one of the most problematic lines in Jeremiah. Other proposed translations include, “Put salt on the land of Moab,” “Give Moab wings so it can fly away,” “Give a flower to Moab,” etc. The Septuagint translates “Set marks upon Moab,” or “Place signs on Moab.”

†48:13 See 1 Kings 12.

‡48:37 “As signs of their mourning”: supplied for clarity.

§48:45 Literally, “It consumes the foreheads of Moab and the skulls of the sons of tumult.”

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher