Jeremiah 48:1-23

1This message was given concerning Moab. This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “What sorrow awaits the city of Nebo; it will soon lie in ruins. The city of Kiriathaim will be humiliated and captured; the fortress will be humiliated and broken down.

2No one will ever brag about Moab again, for in Heshbon there is a plot to destroy her. ‘Come,’ they say, ‘we will cut her off from being a nation.’ The town of Madmen, too, will be silenced; the sword will follow you there.

3Listen to the cries from Horonaim, cries of devastation and great destruction.

4All Moab is destroyed. Her little ones will cry out.

5Her refugees weep bitterly, climbing the slope to Luhith. They cry out in terror, descending the slope to Horonaim.

6Flee for your lives! Hide in the wilderness!

7Because you have trusted in your wealth and skill, you will be taken captive. Your god Chemosh, with his priests and officials, will be hauled off to distant lands!

8“All the towns will be destroyed, and no one will escape— either on the plateaus or in the valleys, for the Lord has spoken.

9Oh, that Moab had wings so she could fly away, for her towns will be left empty, with no one living in them.

10Cursed are those who refuse to do the Lord’s work, who hold back their swords from shedding blood!

11“From his earliest history, Moab has lived in peace, never going into exile. He is like wine that has been allowed to settle. He has not been poured from flask to flask, and he is now fragrant and smooth.

12But the time is coming soon,” says the Lord, “when I will send men to pour him from his jar. They will pour him out, then shatter the jar!

13At last Moab will be ashamed of his idol Chemosh, as the people of Israel were ashamed of their gold calf at Bethel.

14“You used to boast, ‘We are heroes, mighty men of war.’

15But now Moab and his towns will be destroyed. His most promising youth are doomed to slaughter,” says the King, whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

16“Destruction is coming fast for Moab; calamity threatens ominously.

17You friends of Moab, weep for him and cry! See how the strong scepter is broken, how the beautiful staff is shattered!

18“Come down from your glory and sit in the dust, you people of Dibon, for those who destroy Moab will shatter Dibon, too. They will tear down all your towers.

19You people of Aroer, stand beside the road and watch. Shout to those who flee from Moab, ‘What has happened there?’

20“And the reply comes back, ‘Moab lies in ruins, disgraced; weep and wail! Tell it by the banks of the Arnon River: Moab has been destroyed!’

21Judgment has been poured out on the towns of the plateau— on Holon and Jahaz and Mephaath,

22on Dibon and Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,

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