Jeremiah 31

Moab at Ease on His Lees, Poured from Vessel to Vessel

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For Moab: Woe to Nebo

31:1For Moab, thus said the Lord: Woe to Nebo, for she perished! Kiriathaim was taken; Amath was disgraced and defeated.

31:2There is no longer healing for Moab, a boast in Heshbon. They devised evils against her: We cut her off from a nation, and she will certainly cease. A sword will walk behind you.

31:3For a sound of people crying out comes from Horonaim: destruction and great shattering!

31:4Moab was shattered; announce it in Zogora.

31:5For Alaoth was filled with weeping; he will go up weeping on Horonaim’s road. You heard a cry of shattering:

31:6Flee and save your lives, and you will be like a wild donkey in the wilderness!

31:7Because you trusted in your fortifications, you too will be seized. Chemosh will go into deportation, his priests and rulers together.

31:8Destruction will come upon every city; no city will be saved. The valley will perish and the plain be destroyed, as the Lord said.

31:9Give signs to Moab, for she will surely be kindled; all her cities will become an untrodden place. From where will an inhabitant come to her?

31:10Accursed is one who does the Lord’s works carelessly, removing his sword from blood.

Moab at Ease Will Be Poured Out

31:11Moab rested from childhood and trusted in his glory. He did not pour from vessel to vessel or go into deportation. Therefore his taste remained in him and his scent did not fade.

31:12Therefore days are coming, says the Lord, when I will send him tilters who will tip him, thin out his vessels, and cut up his horns.

31:13Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as Israel’s house was ashamed of Bethel, their hope, having trusted in them.

31:14How will you say, We are strong, and a man strong for warfare?

31:15Moab perished, his city, and his choice young men went down to slaughter.

31:16Moab’s day is near to coming, and his calamity is very swift.

31:17Move in lament for him, all who surround him, all who know his name. Say, How the renowned staff is shattered, the rod of grandeur!

31:18Come down from glory and sit in dampness, resident Dibon. Be crushed, for Moab perished; he came up against you, ruining your fortification.

31:19Stand on the road and look, you who live in Aroer. Ask the one fleeing and the one being saved, and say, What happened?

31:20Moab was ashamed, for he was shattered. Wail and cry out; announce at Arnon that Moab perished.

Judgment Comes into the Land of Misor

31:21Judgment is coming into the land of Misor: upon Chailon, Jahzah, and Mophath,

31:22upon Dibon, Nebo, and the house of Deblathaim,

31:23upon Kiriathaim, the house of Gamol, and the house of Maon,

31:24upon Kerioth, Bosor, and all Moab’s cities, far and near.

31:25Moab’s horn was broken and his effort shattered.

31:26Make him drunk, for he magnified himself against the Lord. Moab will strike with his hand and become a laughingstock himself.

31:27Was not Israel a laughingstock to you? Was he found in your thefts, that you made war on him?

31:28Moab’s inhabitants left the cities and lived among rocks. They became like doves nesting among rocks at a pit’s mouth.

31:29I heard Moab’s insolence; he acted very insolently—his insolence and arrogance—and his heart was lifted up.

31:30But I knew his works. Not his sufficiency; he did not act so.

Wail over Moab from Every Side

31:31Therefore wail over Moab from every side; cry out over the men of Kiradas of drought.

31:32Like the weeping for Jazer, I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah. Your branches crossed the sea and reached Jazer. Destruction fell upon your summer fruit and your grape gatherers.

31:33Joy and gladness were boiled away from Moab’s land, and wine was upon your winepresses. They did not tread in the morning or in the evening; they did not make an aidad shout.

31:34From Heshbon’s cry as far as Elealeh, their cities raised their voice; from Zogor to Horonaim and Aglath-salisia, for even Nebrim’s water will become a burning.

31:35I will destroy Moab, says the Lord, as he goes up to an altar and burns incense to his gods.

31:36Therefore my heart, Moab, will hum like flutes; my heart will hum like a flute for Kiradas’s people. Therefore what he acquired perished from a person.

31:37They will shave every head in every place; every beard will be shaved, all hands will beat themselves, and on every waist is sackcloth.

31:38And on all Moab’s rooftops and in her squares—for I shattered Moab, says the Lord, like a vessel for which there is no use.

How Moab Turned His Back

31:39How he has changed! How Moab turned his back! He was ashamed, and Moab became a laughingstock and an object of resentment to all around her.

31:40For thus said the Lord:

31:41Akkarioth was taken and the fortifications seized.

31:42Moab will perish from being a multitude, for he magnified himself against the Lord.

31:43Trap, fear, and pit are upon you, resident Moab.

31:44One who flees from fear will fall into the pit, and one who climbs from the pit will be caught in the trap, for I will bring these things upon Moab in the year of her visitation.

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.