XV.--1. Oracle concerning Moab! for in a night Ar-Moab is laid waste,
destroyed; for in a night Kir-Moab is laid waste, destroyed. 2. They
go up to the temple-house and Dibon, up to the heights to weep: upon
Nebo and upon Medebah of Moab there is weeping: on all heads
baldness, every beard is mutilated. 3. In the markets of Moab they
gird themselves with sackcloth; on the roofs of the land, and in the
streets, everything wails, melting into tears. 4. Heshbon cries, and
'Elâle; even to Jahaz they hear their howling; even the armed men of
Moab break out into mourning thereat; its soul trembles within it.
5. My heart, towards Moab it crieth out; its bolts reach to Zoar, the
three-year-old heifer. For the mountain-slope of Luhith they ascend
with weeping; for on the road to Horonaijim they lift up a cry of
despair. 6. For the waters of Nimrim are waste places from this time
forth: for the grass is dried up, the vegetation wasteth away, the
green is gone. 7. Therefore what has been spared, what has been
gained, and their provision, they carry it over the willow-brook.
8. For the scream has gone round in the territory of Moab; the
wailing of Moab resounds to Eglayim, and his wailing to Beēr-Elim.
9. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I suspend over
Dimon a new calamity, over the escaped of Moab a lion, and over the
remnant of the land.
XVI.--1. Send a land-ruler's tribute of lambs from Sela desert-wards
to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2. And the daughters of Moab
will be like birds fluttering about, a scared nest, at the fords of
Arnon. 3. Give counsel, for a decision, make thy shadow like night in
the midst of noon: hide the outcasts, do not betray the wanderers.
4. Let mine outcasts tarry in thee, Moab; be a covert to it from
before the spoiler. For the extortioner is at an end, desolation has
disappeared, treaders down are away from the land. 5. And a throne is
established by grace, and there sits thereon in truth in the tent of
David one judging, and zealous for right, and practised in
righteousness.
6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, the very haughty (pride), the
haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath, the falsehood of his
speech. 7. Therefore will Moab wail for Moab, everything will wail:
for the grape-cakes of Kir-Haraseth will ye whine, utterly crushed.
8. For the fruit-fields of Heshbon have faded away: the vine of
Simmah, lords of the nations its branches smote down: they reached to
Ja'zer, trailed through the desert: its branches spread themselves
out wide, crossed over the sea. 9. Therefore I bemoan the vine of
Sibmah with the weeping of Jazer; I flood thee with my tears, O
Heshbon and Elealeh, that Hêdad hath fallen upon thy fruit-harvest
and upon thy vintage. 10. And joy is taken away, and the rejoicing of
the garden-land; and there is no exulting, no shouting in the
vineyards: the treader treads out no wine in the presses; I put an
end to the Hêdad. 11. Therefore my bowels sound for Moab like a harp,
and my inside for Kir-Heres. 12. And it will come to pass, when it is
seen that Moab is weary with weeping upon the mountain height, and
enters into its sanctuary to pray, it will not gain anything.
13. This is the word which Jehovah spake long ago concerning Moab.
And now Jehovah speaketh thus: In three years, like the years of a
hireling, the glory of Moab is disgraced, together with all the
multitude of the great: a remnant is left, contemptibly small, and
not great at all.