Jeremiah 48
A message about Moab
‘I will cause the people in Nebo city to cry, because I will destroy it.
The people in Kiriathaim city will be ashamed and its enemies will get power over it.
They will break its strong buildings, and its people will be ashamed.
In Heshbon, men will think about how they can destroy Moab.
They will say, “Let us completely destroy that
And the town called Madmen will become completely quiet.
Its people will be afraid. And they will cry while enemies destroy it.
The children who live there will cry.
They will go towards Horonaim. And they will cry while enemies destroy their cities.
Live like bushes in the
But your enemies will take you away too.
The people and the god Chemosh will go to a foreign country
together with their
They will not save one town.
They will destroy the valley and the flat country.
The Lord has spoken.
Nobody will live in their towns. They will be empty.
He will
They have been like
Nobody has ever taken them away to a foreign country.
So it is the same as it always was.’
‘when I will send men to it.
They will pour out Moab's people like
They will break the jars completely.
They will be like the people in Israel who
Those people became ashamed when they did that.
They will kill the best of its young men.’
The King, the great and powerful Lord says,
Enemies will destroy it quickly.
They all knew how great it had been.
They will say, “Moab's great
Their king is not still ruling there!”
Come from your beautiful houses and sit in the dirt.
The enemy who is destroying Moab will come to attack you.
He will break down your cities that have walls round them.
You will see men and women who are running away.
Ask them, “Why are you running away from the city?”
Shout!
Tell the people by the River Arnon that enemies have destroyed Moab.
He has
Tell the people in all the towns in Moab, near or far away.
Their enemies have destroyed the things that made them strong,’
says the Lord.
She will be sick and she will sit in her own dirt.
People will point at Moab. They will not give any
You said that they did not have any value.
You did not find Israel's people when they were with many robbers.
So you do not have any good reason to speak like that about them.
leave your towns and go to live among the rocks.
Live like a bird that builds its house by a hole in the hill.
They think that they are better than anyone else.
They think that other people are like dirt.
They think that nobody is good enough to speak to them.
They think that Israel does not have any value.
But their thoughts do not have any value,’ says the Lord.
‘The loud words that they say will not help them.
I am sorry for the men in Kir-Heres.
They reach as far as the sea.
Their branches reach to the sea called Jazer.
The enemy is destroying their fruit and their
They make people sad.
They are not happy
because I have stopped them making
They are not singing now and they are not happy now.
The noise rises from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz.
It reaches from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-Shelishiyah.
Even the River Nimrim has become dry.
They offer food to them on the high places.
They burn nice smelling oils to their gods.
I will cause them to stop that,’ says the Lord.
I will sing a sad song.
It is a song for the men in Kir-Heres
because they have lost their valuable things.
They have cut their hands.
And they are wearing hard material.
the people are sad and they are crying.
They are sad because I have broken Moab.
I have broken it like a jar that I do not want,’
says the Lord.
They are ashamed and they turn away.
People look at Moab's troubles. They do not give any
All who live near there are afraid to look at Moab.’
‘Look! A big bird is flying down.
Its
and he will get power over its strong buildings.
Then Moab's soldiers will be afraid.
They will be afraid like a woman who is having a baby.
because they have not obeyed him.
And they will be very afraid,’ says the Lord.
They will fall into holes that their enemies have dug.
And the enemy will catch those who climb out of the holes.
That will happen because now I will
Nobody will help them.
I have been like a fire that is coming from Heshbon.
It is like a fire from the centre of Sihon.
It burns the faces of Moab's people.
And it burns the heads of the drunks who make a lot of noise.
I have destroyed the people of Chemosh.
The enemy has taken your sons to a far country.
They have taken your daughters to become slaves.
That is what the Lord says.
That is what the Lord says as the