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15An 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. ²Dibon 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; 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 Dibon are full of blood; yet I will bring upon Dibon even more— a lion for those of Moab who escape, for the remnant of the land.

16Send lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela, by way of the desert, to the mount of daughter Zion. ²Like fluttering birds, like scattered nestlings, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. ³“Give counsel, grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive; ⁴let the outcasts of Moab settle among you; be a refuge to them from the destroyer.” When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and marauders have vanished from the land, ⁵then a throne shall be established in steadfast love in the tent of David, and on it shall sit in faithfulness a ruler who seeks justice and is swift to do what is right.

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab—how proud he is!— of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; his boasts are false. ⁷Therefore let Moab wail, let everyone wail for Moab. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin-cakes of Kir-hareseth. ⁸For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vines of Sibmah, whose clusters once made drunk the lords of the nations, reached to Jazer and strayed to the desert; their shoots once spread abroad and crossed over the sea. ⁹Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for the shout over your fruit harvest and your grain harvest has ceased. ¹⁰Joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field; and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no shouts are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; the vintage-shout is hushed. ¹¹Therefore my heart throbs like a harp for Moab, and my very soul for Kir-heres. ¹²When Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail. ¹³This was the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past. ¹⁴But now the Lord says, In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all its great multitude; and those who survive will be very few and feeble.