1
Send lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mountain of Daughter Zion.
2
Like a bird fleeing, forced from the nest, the daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.
3
Give us counsel and make a decision. [Shelter us] at noonday with shade that is as dark as night. Hide the refugee; do not betray the one who flees.
4
Let my refugees stay with you; be a refuge for Moab from the aggressor. When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ended, and marauders have vanished from the land.
5
Then in the tent of David a throne will be established by faithful love. A judge who seeks what is right and is quick to execute justice will sit on the throne forever.
6
We have heard of Moab's pride-- how very proud he is-- his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance, and his empty boasting.
7
Therefore let Moab wail; let every one of them wail for Moab. Mourn, you who are completely devastated, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
8
For Heshbon's terraced vineyards and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choice vines that reached as far as Jazer and spread to the desert. Their shoots spread out and reached the Dead Sea.
9
So I join with Jazer to weep for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer [fruit] and your harvest.
10
Joy and rejoicing have been removed from the orchard; no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards. No one tramples grapes in the winepresses. I have put an end to the shouting.
11
Therefore I moan like [the sound of] a lyre for Moab, [as does] my innermost being for Kir-heres.
12
When Moab appears on the high place, when he tires himself out and comes to his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.
13
This is the message that the LORD previously announced about Moab.
14
And now the LORD says, "In three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab's splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak."
1
An oracle against Damascus: Look, Damascus is no longer a city. It has become a ruined heap.
2
The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be [places] for flocks. They will lie down without fear.
3
The fortress disappears from Ephraim, and a kingdom from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites. [This is] the declaration of the LORD of Hosts.
4
On that day the splendor of Jacob will fade, and his healthy body will become emaciated.
5
It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain-- his arm harvesting the heads of grain-- and as if one had gleaned heads of grain in the valley of Rephaim.
6
Only gleanings will be left in Israel, as if an olive tree had been beaten-- two or three berries at the very top of the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches. [This is] the declaration of the LORD, the God of Israel.
7
On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8
They will not look to the altars they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars they made with their fingers.
9
On that day their strong cities will be like the abandoned woods and mountaintops that were abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation.
10
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have failed to remember the rock of your strength; therefore you will plant beautiful plants and set out cuttings from exotic vines.
11
On the day that you plant, you will help them to grow, and in the morning you will help your seed to sprout, [but] the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.
12
Ah! The roar of many peoples-- they roar like the roaring of the seas. The raging of the nations-- they rage like the raging of mighty waters.
13
The nations rage like the raging of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills and like dead thistles before a gale.
14
In the evening-- sudden terror! Before morning-- it is gone! This is the fate of those who plunder us and the lot of those who ravage us.
1
Ah! The land of buzzing insect wings beyond the rivers of Cush
2
sends envoys by sea, in reed vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared near and far, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers.
3
All you inhabitants of the world and you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet sounds, listen!
4
For, the LORD said to me: I will quietly look out from My place, like shimmering heat in sunshine, like a rain cloud in harvest heat.
5
For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over and the blossom becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife, and tear away and remove the branches.
6
They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills and for the wild animals of the land. The birds will spend the summer on them, and all the animals, the winter on them.
7
At that time a gift will be brought to the LORD of Hosts from a people tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared near and far, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers-- to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of Hosts.
