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48 : 1 Concerning Moab: This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold will be disgraced and shattered.
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48 : 2 Moab will be praised no more; in Heshbon men will plot her downfall: `Come, let us put an end to that nation.` You too, O Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.
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48 : 3 Listen to the cries from Horonaim, cries of great havoc and destruction.
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48 : 4 Moab will be broken; her little ones will cry out.
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48 : 5 They go up the way to Luhith, weeping bitterly as they go; on the road down to Horonaim anguished cries over the destruction are heard.
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48 : 6 Flee! Run for your lives; become like a bush in the desert.
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48 : 7 Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.
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48 : 8 The destroyer will come against every town, and not a town will escape. The valley will be ruined and the plateau destroyed, because the LORD has spoken.
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48 : 9 Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste ; her towns will become desolate, with no one to live in them.
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48 : 10 A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD`s work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!
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48 : 11 Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another-- she has not gone into exile. So she tastes as she did, and her aroma is unchanged.
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48 : 12 But days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will send men who pour from jars, and they will pour her out; they will empty her jars and smash her jugs.
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48 : 13 Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.
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48 : 14 How can you say, `We are warriors, men valiant in battle`?
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48 : 15 Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded; her finest young men will go down in the slaughter," declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.
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48 : 16 The fall of Moab is at hand; her calamity will come quickly.
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48 : 17 Mourn for her, all who live around her, all who know her fame; say, `How broken is the mighty scepter, how broken the glorious staff!`
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48 : 18 Come down from your glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitants of the Daughter of Dibon, for he who destroys Moab will come up against you and ruin your fortified cities.
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48 : 19 Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, ask them, `What has happened?`
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48 : 20 Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered. Wail and cry out! Announce by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.
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48 : 21 Judgment has come to the plateau-- to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath,
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48 : 22 to Dibon, Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,
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48 : 23 to Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,
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48 : 24 to Kerioth and Bozrah-- to all the towns of Moab, far and near.
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48 : 25 Moab`s horn is cut off; her arm is broken," declares the LORD.
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48 : 26 Make her drunk, for she has defied the LORD. Let Moab wallow in her vomit; let her be an object of ridicule.
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48 : 27 Was not Israel the object of your ridicule? Was she caught among thieves, that you shake your head in scorn whenever you speak of her?
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48 : 28 Abandon your towns and dwell among the rocks, you who live in Moab. Be like a dove that makes its nest at the mouth of a cave.
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48 : 29 We have heard of Moab`s pride-- her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart.
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48 : 30 I know her insolence but it is futile," declares the LORD, "and her boasts accomplish nothing.
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48 : 31 Therefore I wail over Moab, for all Moab I cry out, I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth.
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48 : 32 I weep for you, as Jazer weeps, O vines of Sibmah. Your branches spread as far as the sea; they reached as far as the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your ripened fruit and grapes.
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48 : 33 Joy and gladness are gone from the orchards and fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy. Although there are shouts, they are not shouts of joy.
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48 : 34 The sound of their cry rises from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah, for even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.
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48 : 35 In Moab I will put an end to those who make offerings on the high places and burn incense to their gods," declares the LORD.
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48 : 36 So my heart laments for Moab like a flute; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir Hareseth. The wealth they acquired is gone.
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48 : 37 Every head is shaved and every beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist is covered with sackcloth.
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48 : 38 On all the roofs in Moab and in the public squares there is nothing but mourning, for I have broken Moab like a jar that no one wants," declares the LORD.
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48 : 39 How shattered she is! How they wail! How Moab turns her back in shame! Moab has become an object of ridicule, an object of horror to all those around her.
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48 : 40 This is what the LORD says: "Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab.
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48 : 41 Kerioth will be captured and the strongholds taken. In that day the hearts of Moab`s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
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48 : 42 Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the LORD.
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48 : 43 Terror and pit and snare await you, O people of Moab," declares the LORD.
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48 : 44 Whoever flees from the terror will fall into a pit, whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare; for I will bring upon Moab the year of her punishment, declares the LORD.
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48 : 45 In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand helpless, for a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a blaze from the midst of Sihon; it burns the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of the noisy boasters.
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48 : 46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed; your sons are taken into exile and your daughters into captivity.
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48 : 47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come, declares the LORD. Here ends the judgment on Moab.
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