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.”