An Oracle concerning Moab

1An oracle concerning Moab.

Because Ar is laid waste in a night,

Moab is undone;

because Kir is laid waste in a night,

Moab is undone.

2Dibon15.2 Cn: Heb the house and Dibon has gone up to the temple,

to the high places to weep;

over Nebo and over Medeba

Moab wails.

On every head is baldness,

every beard is shorn;

3in the streets they bind on sackcloth;

on the housetops and in the squares

everyone wails and melts in tears.

4Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,

their voices are heard as far as Jahaz;

therefore the loins of Moab quiver;15.4 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb the armed men of Moab cry aloud

his soul trembles.

5My heart cries out for Moab;

his fugitives flee to Zoar,

to Eglath-shelishiyah.

For at the ascent of Luhith

they go up weeping;

on the road to Horonaim

they raise a cry of destruction;

6the waters of Nimrim

are a desolation;

the grass is withered, the new growth fails,

the verdure is no more.

7Therefore the abundance they have gained

and what they have laid up

they carry away

over the Wadi of the Willows.

8For a cry has gone

around the land of Moab;

the wailing reaches to Eglaim,

the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.

9For the waters of Dibon15.9 Q Ms Vg Compare Syr: MT Dimon are full of blood;

yet I will bring upon Dibon15.9 Q Ms Vg Compare Syr: MT Dimon even more—

a lion for those of Moab who escape,

for the remnant of the land.