A Prophecy of Moab’s Devastation
1 Send lambs to the ruler of the land from Selah
to the wilderness,
to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2 For it will be that as wandering birds,
as a scattered nest,
so will the daughters of Moab be
at the fords of the Arnon.
3 Give counsel! Execute justice!
Make your shade like the night
in the middle of the noonday!
Hide the outcasts!
Do not betray the fugitive!
4 Let my outcasts dwell with you!
As for Moab, be a hiding place for him
from the face of the destroyer.
For the extortionist is brought to nothing.
Destruction ceases.
The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5 A throne will be established in loving kindness.
One will sit on it in truth,
in the tent of David,
judging, seeking justice,
and swift to pursue righteousness.
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab,
that he is very proud,
of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath.
His hollow boasting.
7 Therefore Moab will wail for Moab.
Everyone will wail.
You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth,
utterly stricken.
8 For the fields of Heshbon languish
with the vine of Sibmah.
The lords of the nations
have broken down its choice branches,
which reached to Jazer,
which wandered into the wilderness.
Its shoots were spread abroad.
They passed over the sea.
9 Therefore I will weep
as Jazer weeps for the vine of Sibmah.
I will drench you with my tears,
Heshbon, and Elealeh:
for on your summer fruits
and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen.
10 Gladness is taken away,
and joy removed from the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards there will be no singing,
nor joyful sounds.
Nobody will tread out wine in the presses.
I have made the shouting stop.
11 Therefore my heart sounds
like a harp for Moab,
and my inward parts for Kir Heres.
12 It will happen that when Moab presents himself,
when he wearies himself on the high place,
and comes to his sanctuary to pray,
that he will not prevail.
13 This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in times past. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble.”