Jeremiah 48 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

About Moab. This is what Yahweh who commands armies, the God of Israel, says: "Devastation is coming for Nebo — it will be laid waste. Kiriathaim is captured and humiliated. The fortress is shattered and shamed."

"Moab's fame is gone. In Heshbon they plotted her downfall: 'Come, let's cut her off as a nation.' You too, Madmen, will be silenced — the sword will chase you down."

"Listen — screaming from Horonaim: 'Devastation! Total ruin!'"

"Moab is shattered. Her little ones cry out in anguish."

"On the road up to Luhith they climb weeping, weeping without end. On the road down to Horonaim the screams of shattering fill the air."

"Run! Save yourselves! Be like a wild shrub in the wasteland."

"Because you trusted in your achievements and your stockpiles, you too will be captured. Chemosh will go into exile — his priests and officials along with him."

"The destroyer will come to every town — not one city will escape. The valley will be ruined, the plateau will be wrecked, just as Yahweh has spoken."

"Set up a gravestone for Moab — she is going to total ruin. Her towns will become wastelands with no one left living in them."

"Cursed is the one who does Yahweh's work halfheartedly. Cursed is the one who holds back his sword from bloodshed."

"Moab has been at ease since his youth. He has settled on his dregs like wine, never poured from jar to jar. He has never gone into exile. So his flavor has stayed the same, his aroma unchanged."

"So watch — the days are coming," declares Yahweh, "when I will send pourers who will pour him out. They will empty his jars and smash his jugs to pieces."

"Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh just as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel — the thing they trusted in."

"How can you say, 'We are warriors, men strong enough for battle'?"

"Moab is destroyed — his towns have been overrun. His best young men have gone down to the slaughter." This is the declaration of the King whose name is Yahweh who commands armies.

"Moab's disaster is near. His catastrophe is racing toward him."

"Grieve for him, all you neighbors. Everyone who knows his name, say: 'How the mighty scepter is shattered — that glorious staff, broken.'"

"Come down from your glory and sit in the parched dirt, you who live in Dibon. Because the destroyer of Moab has come up against you and wrecked your fortifications."

"Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, 'What happened?'"

"Moab is humiliated — yes, shattered. Wail and cry out! Announce it along the Arnon: Moab is destroyed."

"Judgment has come to the plateau towns — to Holon, to Jahzah, to Mephaath,"

"to Dibon, to Nebo, to Beth-diblathaim,"

"to Kiriathaim, to Beth-gamul, to Beth-meon,"

"to Kerioth, to Bozrah, and to every town in the land of Moab, far and near."

"Moab's horn is cut off. His arm is broken," declares Yahweh.

"Get him drunk — because he made himself great against Yahweh. Moab will wallow in his own vomit and become a joke himself."

"Wasn't Israel a joke to you? Was he caught among thieves that you shook your head at him every time you spoke of him?"

"Abandon the towns and live in the cliffs, you who live in Moab. Be like a dove that nests in the walls of a gaping canyon."

"We have heard about Moab's pride — how incredibly arrogant he is. His loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, the way he carries himself above everyone."

"I know his arrogance," declares Yahweh, "and it amounts to nothing. His boasting has accomplished nothing real."

"That is why I wail for Moab. I cry out for all of Moab. I moan for the people of Kir-hareseth."

"I weep for you more than Jazer weeps, you vine of Sibmah. Your branches stretched across the sea, reaching all the way to Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit and your grape harvest."

"Joy and gladness have been stripped from the orchards and fields of Moab. I have stopped the wine from flowing in the presses. No one treads the grapes with shouts of joy. The shouts are there — but they are not shouts of joy."

"From the outcry at Heshbon to Elealeh, all the way to Jahaz they raise their voice — from Zoar to Horonaim to Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim have dried up."

"I will put an end in Moab," declares Yahweh, "to anyone offering sacrifices at the high places and burning incense to their gods."

"So my heart moans for Moab like a flute. My heart moans like a flute for the people of Kir-hareseth. The wealth they built up has vanished."

"Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off. Every hand is slashed, every waist is wrapped in burlap."

"On every rooftop in Moab and in every public square — nothing but mourning. Because I have shattered Moab like a jar nobody wants," declares Yahweh.

"How shattered he is! Wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! Moab has become a joke and a horror to everyone around him."

For this is what Yahweh says: "Look — something swoops down like an eagle, spreading its wings over Moab."

"The towns are captured, the strongholds seized. On that day the hearts of Moab's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor."

"Moab will be wiped out as a people because he made himself great against Yahweh."

"Terror, the pit, and the trap are coming for you, people of Moab," declares Yahweh.

"Whoever flees from the terror will fall into the pit. Whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in the trap. I will bring all of this on Moab in the year I deal with them," declares Yahweh.

"In the shadow of Heshbon the exhausted fugitives stand helpless. But fire has come out of Heshbon, a blaze from the house of Sihon. It has consumed Moab's forehead and the skulls of the noisemakers."

"It's over for you, Moab. The people of Chemosh are finished. Your sons have been taken captive, your daughters into exile."

"But I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the days to come," declares Yahweh. Here ends the judgment on Moab.