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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.