Judgment on Moab
(Isaiah 15:1–9)

1Concerning Moab, thus says YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel:

“Woe to Nebo,

for it is ruined!

Kiriathaim has been put to shame; it has been captured;

the fortress has been put to shame and shattered!

2There is no longer praise for Moab!

In Heshbon† they have devised against her evil:

‘Come, and let us cut her off from nationhood!’

Also, O Madmen,† you will be silenced,

after you will go the sword.

3A voice cries out from Horonaim:

‘Devastation and great destruction!’

4Moab is destroyed;

her little ones have caused to be heard a cry.†

5For the ascent of Luhith with weeping,

they ascend weeping;

for on the descent of Horonaim

they have heard the distressed

cry of destruction.

6‘Flee, save your⁺ own soul!

L become like a juniper in the desert.†’

7For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures,

you also will be captured;

and Chemosh will go forth into exile,

his priests and his princes together.

8And the destroyer will come to every city,

and not a city will escape;

and the valley will perish,

and the plain will be destroyed—

as YHWH has said.

9Give wings to Moab,

for she would fly away,†

and her cities will become as a desolation

without one dwelling in them.

10Cursed is the one doing

the work of YHWH slothfully,

and cursed is the one withholding

his sword from blood!

11Moab has been at ease from his youth,

and he has been resting upon his dregs;

he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,

and into exile he has not gone.

Upon thus his taste in him stands,

and his scent has not changed.

12Therefore, behold, the days are coming,

a declaration of YHWH,

when I will send to him those tipping over pots,

and they will tip him over,

and his vessels they will empty,

and the bottles they will break.

13And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,

as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel

, their source of trust.

14How can you⁺ say, ‘We are Mighty,

and men of strength for battle’?

15Moab has been laid waste,

and he has gone up from her cities,

and the choicest of her young men

go down to the slaughter,

a declaration of the King,

YHWH of Hosts is His name.

16The doom of Moab is near to coming,

and his affliction has hurried quickly.

17Bemoan for him, all who surround him,

and all who know his name,

say, ‘How the staff of strength is broken—

the rod of beauty!’

18Come down from your glory, and sit in thirst,

O dweller of the daughter of Dibon;

for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;

he has destroyed your fortifications!

19By the road stand and watch,

O dweller of Aroer;

ask of him fleeing and her escaping;

Say, ‘What has happened?’

20Moab is put to shame, for she has been shattered.

Wail and cry out!

Declare it in Arnon,

that Moab has been laid waste.

21Judgment has come to the land of the plain—

to Holon, and to Jahzah,† and on Mephaath,

22and on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on Beth-diblathaim,

23and on Kiriathaim, and on Beth-gamul, and on Beth-Meon,

24and on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab,

those far off and those nearby.

25The horn of Moab has been cut off

and his arm has been broken!”

A declaration of YHWH.

26“Make him drunk,

because he has magnified himself against YHWH.

And Moab will wallow in his vomit,

and he also will be a laughingstock.

27For did not Israel come to be for you a laughingstock?

Was he found among thieves,

that whenever you speak of him

you shake your head about him?

28Leave behind the cities and dwell in the rock,

O dwellers of Moab,

and become like the dove

that nests in the sides of the mouth of a cave.

29We have heard the pride of Moab—

his exceeding pride—

his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pridefulness, and the haughtiness of his heart.

30I know,”

a declaration of YHWH, “His insolence;

his boasts are not trustworthy;

his deeds are not trustworthy.

31Upon thus, over Moab I wail,

and for Moab, all of him, I will cry out;

for the men of Kir-Heres† I will moan.

32With the weeping of Jazer do I weep for you,

O vine of Sibmah!

Your tendrils have gone out over the sea,†

as far as Jazer† they reach;

upon your summer fruit and upon your vintage

the destroyer has fallen.

33Gladness and rejoicing are gathered up from the fertile field,

and from the land of Moab;

the wine from the winepresses I have made to cease;

no one treads them with shouts of joy—

the shout is not a shout.

34From the outcry of Heshbon unto Elealeh,

and unto Jahaz, they have given forth their voice,

from Zoar to Horonaim, and Eglath-Shelishiyah;

for also the waters of Nimrim have become desolations.

35And I will make cease in Moab,”

a declaration of YHWH,

“The one bringing up in the high places,

and burning incense to his gods.

36Upon thus My heart wails for Moab like flutes,

and My heart wails for the men of Kir-Heres like flutes.

Upon thus the wealth they have acquired has perished.

37For every head is bald,

and every beard is diminished;

on all the hands are cuts,

and upon the loins is sackcloth.

38On all the housetops of Moab,

and in her streets,

everywhere is lamentation;

for I have broken Moab like a vessel without delight in it,”

a declaration of YHWH.

39“How she is broken! How they wail!

How Moab has turned her neck having been put to shame!

Moab has become a derision and for a horror

to all those around her.”

40For thus says YHWH:

“Behold, like an eagle he flies

and spreads his wings against Moab.

41Kerioth is captured,

and the strongholds are caught,

and the heart of the mighty ones of Moab will be on that day

like the heart of a woman in labor.

42And Moab will be destroyed as a nation,

because he has magnified himself against YHWH.

43Terror and pit and snare are upon you, O inhabitant of Moab!”

A declaration of YHWH.

44“The one who flees from the terror

will fall into the pit,

and the one coming up from the pit

will be caught in the snare;

for I will bring upon her, upon Moab,

the year of their punishment!”

A declaration of YHWH.

“In the shadow of Heshbon stand those fleeing powerless;

for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon,

and a flame from the midst of Sihon,

and it devours the forehead of Moab

and the crown of the sons of tumult.

Woe to you, O Moab!

The people of Chemosh have perished,

for your sons have been taken into captivity,

and your daughters into captivity.

And I will turn back the captivity of Moab† in the latter days,”

a declaration of YHWH.

As far as here is the judgment of Moab.

Footnotes:

2 The Hebrew for Heshbon sounds like the Hebrew for plot.
2 The name of the Moabite town Madmen sounds like the Hebrew for silenced.
4 Hebrew; LXX her cries are heard as far away as Zoar
6 Or like a wild donkey or like Aroer
9 Or Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste
21 Jahzah is a variant of Jahaz; see verse 34.
31 Kir-heres is a variant of Kir-hareseth; also in verse 36; see Isaiah 16:7.
32 Probably the Dead Sea
32 Two Hebrew manuscripts and LXX; most Hebrew manuscripts to the Sea of Jazer
47 Or restore the fortunes of Moab