2  On a bare hill ^hraise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for ⁱthem to enter

the gates of the nobles.

3  I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

my proudly exulting ones.¹

4  The sound ^jof a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

^kThe Lord of hosts is mustering

a host for battle.

5  ^lThey come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole land.²

6  ^mWail, for ⁿthe day of the Lord is near;

as destruction from the Almighty³ it will come!

7  Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart ^owill melt.

8  They will be dismayed:

^ppangs and agony will seize them;

^qthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

9  Behold, ⁿthe day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the land a desolation

and ^rto destroy its sinners from it.

10  ^sFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

^tthe sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

11  I will punish ^uthe world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will ^vput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

^wand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

12  I will make ^xpeople more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the ^ygold of Ophir.

13  Therefore ^zI will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken out of its place,

at the wrath of the Lord of hosts

in the day of his fierce anger.

14  And like a hunted gazelle,

or like sheep with none to gather them,

^aeach will turn to his own people,

and each will flee to his own land.

15  Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

16  ^bTheir infants will be dashed in pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives ravished.

17  Behold, ^cI am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

18  ^dTheir bows will slaughter⁴ the young men;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

19  And Babylon, ^ethe glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

will be ^flike Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

20  ^gIt will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

no ^hArab will pitch his tent there;

no ⁱshepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

21  But ^jwild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ^kostriches⁵ will dwell,

and there wild goats will dance.

22  Hyenas⁶ will cry in its towers,

and ^ljackals in ^mthe pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand

and its days will not be prolonged.

“How the oppressor has ceased,

^vthe insolent fury² ceased!

5  The Lord has broken the ^wstaff of the wicked,

the ^wscepter of rulers,

6  ^xthat struck the peoples in wrath

with unceasing blows,

that ruled the nations in anger

with unrelenting persecution.

7  The whole earth is at rest and quiet;

^ythey break forth into singing.

8  ^zaThe cypresses rejoice at you,

^bthe cedars of Lebanon, saying,

‘Since you were laid low,

no woodcutter comes up against us.’

9  Sheol beneath is stirred up

to meet you when you come;

it rouses the shades to greet you,

all who were leaders of the earth;

it raises from their thrones

all who were kings of the nations.

10  ^cAll of them will answer

and say to you:

‘You too have become as weak as we!

You have become like us!’

11  Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,

the sound of your harps;

maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,

and worms are your covers.

12  “How ^dyou are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, ^eson of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

13  You said in your heart,

^f‘I will ascend to heaven;

above the stars of God

^gI will set my throne on high;

I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the far reaches of the north;³

14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.’

15  ^hBut you are brought down to Sheol,

to the far reaches of the pit.

16  Those who see you will stare at you

and ponder over you:

‘Is this ⁱthe man who made the earth tremble,

who shook kingdoms,

17  who made the world like a desert

and overthrew its cities,

^jwho did not let his prisoners go home?’

18  All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

each in his own tomb;⁴

19  but you are cast out, away from your grave,

like a loathed branch,

^kclothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,

who go down to the stones of the pit,

like a dead body trampled underfoot.

20  You will not be joined with them in burial,

because you have destroyed your land,

you have slain your people.

“May ^lthe offspring of evildoers

nevermore be named!

21  Prepare slaughter for his sons

^mbecause of the guilt of their fathers,

lest they rise and possess the earth,

and fill the face of the world with cities.”

24  The Lord of hosts has sworn:

^q“As I have planned,

so shall it be,

and as I have purposed,

so shall it stand,

25  that ^rI will break the Assyrian in my land,

and on my mountains trample him underfoot;

and ^shis yoke shall depart from them,

and ^shis burden from their shoulder.”

26  This is the purpose that is purposed

concerning the whole earth,

and this is ^tthe hand that is stretched out

over all the nations.

27  ^uFor the Lord of hosts has purposed,

and who will annul it?

^tHis hand is stretched out,

and who will turn it back?

29  Rejoice not, ^xO Philistia, all of you,

that ^ythe rod that struck you is broken,

for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder,

and its fruit will be a ^zflying fiery serpent.

30  And the firstborn of ^athe poor will graze,

and ^athe needy lie down in safety;

but I will kill your root with famine,

and your remnant it will slay.

31  ^bWail, O ^cgate; cry out, O city;

melt in fear, ^xO Philistia, all of you!

^dFor smoke comes out of the north,

and there is no straggler in his ranks.

32  What will one answer the messengers of the nation?

^e“The Lord has founded Zion,

and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”

Because ^gAr of Moab is laid waste in a night,

Moab is undone;

because ^hKir of Moab is laid waste in a night,

Moab is undone.

2  He has gone up to the temple,¹ and to ⁱDibon,

to the high places² to weep;

over ^jNebo and over ⁱMedeba

Moab ^kwails.

On every head is ^lbaldness;

every beard is shorn;

3  in the streets they wear sackcloth;

on the housetops and in the squares

everyone wails and melts in tears.

4  ^mHeshbon and ^mElealeh cry out;

their voice is heard as far as ⁿJahaz;

therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;

his soul trembles.

5  My heart cries out for Moab;

her fugitives flee to Zoar,

to ⁿEglath-shelishiyah.

For at the ^oascent of Luhith

they go up weeping;

on the road to ^oHoronaim

they raise a cry of destruction;

6  the waters of ^pNimrim

are a desolation;

the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,

the greenery is no more.

7  ^qTherefore the abundance they have gained

and what they have laid up

they carry away

over the Brook of the Willows.

8  For a cry has gone

around the land of Moab;

her wailing reaches to Eglaim;

her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.

9  For the waters of ^rDibon³ are full of blood;

for I will bring upon Dibon even more,

^sa lion for those of Moab who escape,

for the remnant of the land.

16  ^tSend the lamb to the ruler of the land,

from ^uSela, by way of the desert,

to the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2  Like fleeing birds,

like a scattered nest,

so are the daughters of Moab

at ^vthe fords of the Arnon.

3  “Give counsel;

grant justice;

^wmake your shade like night

at the height of noon;

shelter the outcasts;

do not reveal the fugitive;

4  let ^xthe outcasts of Moab

sojourn among you;

be a shelter to them¹

from the destroyer.

When the oppressor is no more,

and destruction has ceased,

and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,

5  ^ythen a throne will be established in steadfast love,

and on it will sit in faithfulness

in the tent of David

one who judges and seeks justice

and is swift to do righteousness.”

6  ^zWe have heard of the pride of Moab—

how proud he is!—

^aof his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;

in his idle boasting he is not right.

7  Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,

^blet everyone wail.

Mourn, utterly stricken,

for the ^craisin cakes of ^dKir-hareseth.

8  For the fields of Heshbon languish,

and ^ethe vine of Sibmah;

the lords of the nations

have struck down its branches,

which reached to Jazer

and strayed to the desert;

its shoots spread abroad

and passed over the sea.

9  Therefore ^fI weep with ^ethe weeping of Jazer

for the vine of Sibmah;

I drench you with my tears,

O Heshbon and Elealeh;

for over ^gyour summer fruit and your harvest

the shout has ceased.

10  ^hAnd joy and gladness are taken away from ⁱthe fruitful field,

and in the vineyards no ^jsongs are sung,

no cheers are raised;

no ^ktreader treads out wine ^lin the presses;

I have put an end to the shouting.

11  Therefore ^mmy inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,

and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city

and will become a heap of ruins.

2  The cities of ^uAroer are deserted;

they will be for flocks,

which will lie down, and ^vnone will make them afraid.

3  The fortress will disappear from ^wEphraim,

and the kingdom from ^wDamascus;

and the remnant of Syria will be

like ^xthe glory of the children of Israel,

declares the Lord of hosts.

4  And in that day ^xthe glory of Jacob will be brought low,

and ^ythe fat of his flesh will grow lean.

5  And it shall be ^zas when the reaper gathers standing grain

and his arm harvests the ears,

and as when one gleans the ears of grain

in ^athe Valley of Rephaim.

6  ^bGleanings will be left in it,

as when an olive tree is beaten—

two or three berries

in the top of the highest bough,

four or five

on the branches of a fruit tree,

declares the Lord God of Israel.

10  For ^gyou have forgotten the God of your salvation

and have not remembered the ^hRock of your refuge;

therefore, though you plant pleasant plants

and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,

11  though you make them grow¹ on the day that you plant them,

and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,

yet the harvest will flee away²

in a day of grief and incurable pain.

12  Ah, ⁱthe thunder of many peoples;

they thunder like the thundering of the sea!

Ah, the roar of nations;

they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!

13  ^jThe nations roar like the roaring of many waters,

^kbut he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,

chased ^llike chaff on the mountains before the wind

and ^mwhirling dust before the storm.

14  ⁿAt evening time, behold, terror!

Before morning, they are no more!

This is the portion of those who loot us,

and the lot of those who plunder us.