1Send lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela through the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2And it will be, like a fleeing bird, a scattered nest, so the daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.
3Bring counsel, render a decision; make your shadow like night in the midst of noon; hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.
4Let my outcasts sojourn among you, O Moab; be a shelter for them from the destroyer. For the oppressor is at an end, destruction has ceased, the trampler has vanished from the land.
5Then a throne will be established in loyal love, and one will sit upon it in faithfulness in the tent of David — judging and seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.
6We have heard of the pride of Moab — very proud — his arrogance and his pride and his fury; his boasts are not so.
7Therefore let Moab wail for Moab, let all of it wail; for the raisin-cakes of Kir-hareseth you shall moan, utterly stricken.
8For the terraced fields of Heshbon languish, the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have beaten down its choice branches, which reached as far as Jazer, wandered into the wilderness; its shoots spread out, they crossed over the sea.
9Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for over your summer fruit and over your harvest a battle-shout has fallen.
10Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchard, and in the vineyards there is no singing, no shouting; the treader treads no wine in the presses; I have made the vintage-shout cease.
11Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inward being for Kir-heres.
12And it will be, when Moab appears, when he wearies himself on the high place and comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.
13This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab in time past.
14But now Yahweh has spoken, saying: Within three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, with all its great multitude; and the remnant will be very few and small, of no account.
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