1. Concerning Moab, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “Oy to Nebo! For it will be ravaged. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured. The fortress will be shamed, shattered.
2. There is no more praise for Moab. In Heshbon they plotted evil against her: ‘Come, let’s cut her off as a nation.’ You too, Madmen, will be silenced— the sword will chase you.
3. The sound of outcry from Horonaim, devastation and great destruction!
4. Moab is shattered—her little ones have raised a cry to be heard.
5. For at the ascent of Luhith they go up with continual weeping. For on the descent to Horonaim they heard the foe’s shattering cry.
6. Flee! Escape with your lives! Be like a tamarisk in the wilderness.
7. For because of your trust in your works and your treasures, you will be captured, too. Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and princes.
8. The destroyer will come to every town. No town will escape. The valley will perish and the plain will be destroyed, as Adonai has said.
9. Give wings to Moab, for she must fly and get away. Her cities will become a wasteland, with no one living in them.
10. Cursed is the one who does the work of Adonai with slackness, and cursed is the one who withholds his sword from blood.
11. Moab has been at ease since his youth. He has settled like wine on its dregs. He has not been emptied from jar to jar, nor gone into exile. Therefore he retains his flavor, and his aroma has not changed.
12. Therefore behold, days are coming” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “when I will send to him those who will tip him up and over, and they will empty his vessels, and smash his jars in pieces.
13. So Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh just as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.
14. How can you say: ‘We are warriors and men valiant for battle’?
15. Moab is ravaged, its towns entered, its choice young men gone down to slaughter” —It is a declaration of the King, whose Name is Adonai-Tzva’ot.
16. “Moab’s calamity will come soon, and his downfall hastens swiftly.