There is no longer praise for Moab; they plan harm against her in Heshbon: Come, let’s cut her off from nationhood. Also, Madmen, you will be silenced; the sword will follow you.
If this fixed order departs from before me – this is the Lord’s declaration – only then will Israel’s descendants cease to be a nation before me for ever.
And now the Lord says, ‘In three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab’s splendour will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak.’
Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated; cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and lament; run back and forth within your walls, because Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.
Those who flee will stand exhausted in Heshbon’s shadow because fire has come out from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It will devour Moab’s forehead and the skull of the noisemakers.
And you, my servant Jacob, do not be afraid – this is the Lord’s declaration – for I will be with you. I will bring destruction on all the nations where I have banished you, but I will not bring destruction on you. I will discipline you with justice, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
‘Have you not noticed what these people have said? They say, “The Lord has rejected the two families he had chosen.” My people are treated with contempt and no longer regarded as a nation among them.
This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink from it.
My heart cries out over Moab, whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah; they go up the Ascent of Luhith weeping; they raise a cry of destruction on the road to Horonaim.
I will devastate Elam before their enemies, before those who intend to take their lives. I will bring disaster on them, my burning anger. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will send the sword after them until I finish them off.