My heart cries out for Moab; Those who flee from her are as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah, For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping; Surely on the road to Horonaim they keep awake with crying in distress over their destruction.
¶For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He hoped for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
Therefore thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am bringing calamity on them which they will not be able to get out of; and they will cry to Me, yet I will not listen to them.
How long is the land to mourn And the plants of every field to dry up? Because of the evil of those who inhabit it, Animals and birds have been swept away, Because men have said, “He will not see our latter ending.”
May an outcry be heard from their houses, When You suddenly bring raiders upon them; For they have dug a pit to capture me And hidden snares for my feet.
The nations have heard of your disgrace, And the earth is full of your outcry; For one warrior has stumbled over another, And both of them have fallen down together.
Yahweh determined to bring to ruin The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line; He has not turned His hand back from swallowing up, And He has caused rampart and wall to mourn; They have languished together.
Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The law is no more. Also, her prophets find No vision from Yahweh.
Therefore the land mourns, And everyone who inhabits it languishes Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, And also the fish of the sea disappear.
Set apart a fast as holy, Call for a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of Yahweh your God, And cry out to Yahweh.
And I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
“About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over My people Israel; and he will save My people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have regarded My people because their cry has come to Me.”