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In Heshbon they have devised evil against her:

'Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation.'

Thou also, O Madmen, shalt be brought to silence;

The sword shall pursue thee.

³Hark! a cry from Horonaim,

Spoiling and great destruction!

⁴Moab is destroyed;

Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

⁵For by the ascent of Luhith

With continual weeping shall they go up;

For in the going down of Horonaim

They have heard the distressing cry of destruction.

⁶Flee, save your lives,

And be like a tamarisk in the wilderness.

 

⁷For, because thou hast trusted

In thy works and in thy treasures,

Thou also shalt be taken;

And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity,

His priests and his princes together.

⁸And the spoiler shall come upon every city,

And no city shall escape;

The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed;

As the Lord hath spoken.

⁹Give wings unto Moab,

For she must fly and get away;

And her cities shall become a desolation,

Without any to dwell therein.

¹⁰Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord with a slack hand,

And cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

¹¹Moab hath been at ease from his youth,

And he hath settled on his lees,

And hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel,

Neither hath he gone into captivity;

Therefore his taste remaineth in him,

And his scent is not changed.

¹²Therefore, behold, the days come,

Saith the Lord,

That I will send unto him them that tilt up,

And they shall tilt him up;

And they shall empty his vessels,

And break their bottles in pieces.

¹³And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh,

As the house of Israel was ashamed

Of Beth-el their confidence.

 

¹⁴How say ye: 'We are mighty men,

And valiant men for the war'?

¹⁵Moab is spoiled, and they are gone up into her cities,

And his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter,

Saith the King,

Whose name is the Lord of hosts.

¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near to come,

And his affliction hasteth fast.

¹⁷Bemoan him, all ye that are round about him,

And all ye that know his name;

Say: 'How is the strong staff broken,

The beautiful rod! '

¹⁸O thou daughter that dwellest in Dibon,

Come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst;

For the spoiler of Moab is come up against thee,

He hath destroyed thy strongholds.

¹⁹O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch;

Ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth;

Say: 'What hath been done?'

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