The Hebrew Prophets

"Mo'av's strength is cut down, his arm is broken," says ADONAI.

Because Mo'av boasted against ADONAI, make him so drunk that he wallows in his own vomit and becomes a laughingstock.

After all, Isra'el was a laughingstock for you. He didn't associate with thieves; nevertheless, whenever you spoke of him, you shook your head.

You who live in Mo'av, leave the cities, and live on the rocks; be like the dove who makes her nest in a hole in the rock at the mouth of a cave.

We have heard of the pride of Mo'av: so very proud he is! - presumptuous, proud, conceited; so haughty his heart!

"I know what meager ground he has for his arrogance," says ADONAI. "His boasting has nothing behind it, and it hasn't accomplished a thing."

Therefore I wail for Mo'av; for all Mo'av I cry; for the people of Kir-Heres I lament.

I will weep for you, vineyard of Sivmah, more than I wept for Ya'zer. Your branches spread to the sea, reaching as far as the sea of Ya'zer. On your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer has fallen.

Gladness and joy have been removed from productive fields and the land of Mo'av. "I have stopped the flow of wine from the vats and the shouts of those who tread the grapes - those shouts of joy are stilled."

The cries from Heshbon to El'aleh are heard as far away as Yachatz; those from Tzo'ar to Horonayim are heard in 'Eglat-Shlishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have become a desolate waste.

"Moreover," says ADONAI, "in Mo'av I will put an end to anyone sacrificing on a high place or offering incense to his gods."

This is why my heart is moaning for Mo'av like funeral flutes, why my heart moans for the men of Kir-Heres like funeral flutes; for the wealth they produced has vanished.

Every head has been shaved bald, every beard has been clipped short, gashes are on every hand, sackcloth around every waist.

On all the housetops of Mo'av and in its open places - lamentation everywhere! "For I have broken Mo'av like a pot that nobody wants," says ADONAI.

Wail, "How shattered is Mo'av! How shamefully in retreat!" Thus will Mo'av become an object of ridicule and distress to all its neighbors.

For here is what ADONAI says: "Look! Down he swoops like a vulture, spreading his wings against Mo'av

the cities are captured, the strongholds are seized. On that day the hearts of Mo'av's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Mo'av will be destroyed as a people, because he boasted against ADONAI.

Terror, pit and trap are upon you, people of Mo'av," says ADONAI.

"Whoever flees from the terror will fall into the pit; and he who climbs up out of the pit will be caught in the trap. For I will bring on her, on Mo'av, the year for her punishment," says ADONAI.

"In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stop, exhausted. For fire breaks out from Heshbon, a flame from inside Sichon, consuming the sides and tops of the heads of Mo'av's noisy boasters.

Woe to you, Mo'av! K'mosh's people are doomed! For your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters led into captivity.

Yet I will end Mo'av's exile in the acharit-hayamim," says ADONAI. This is the judgment on Mo'av.

Concerning the people of 'Amon, here is what ADONAI says: "Has Isra'el no sons? Has he no heir? Then why has Malkam inherited Gad, with his people settled in its cities?

Therefore," says ADONAI, "the days are coming when I will sound the battle alarm against Rabbah and the people of 'Amon; it will become a tel of ruins, her villages burned to the ground. Then Isra'el will inherit from them who disinherited him," says ADONAI.