Judgment on Moab

1The [mournful, inspired] oracle ([a]a burden to be carried) concerning Moab:

Because in a night Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined;

Because in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.

2They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, to the high places to weep.

Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba;

Everyone’s head is shaved, and every beard is cut off [in mourning].

3In their streets they have wrapped themselves with sackcloth;

On their [flat] housetops and in their open squares

Everyone is wailing, dissolved in tears.

4Heshbon and Elealeh [cities claimed by Moab] cry out;

Their voice is heard as far as Jahaz.

Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out;

Moab’s soul trembles within him.

5My heart cries out for Moab;

His fugitives are [fleeing] as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah.

For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping;

For on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over their destruction.

6For the waters of Nimrim are desolate.

Indeed the grass is withered, the new growth dies;

There is no green thing.

7Therefore the abundance which they have acquired and stored away

They carry off over the Brook of the Willows.

8For the cry of distress has echoed around the territory of Moab;

The wailing goes as far as Eglaim and the mournful cry to Beer-elim.

9For the waters of Dimon are full of blood;

Yet I will bring even more woes on Dimon--

A lion upon those of Moab who escape and upon the remnant of the land.