Dual PanelMore troubles for Moab
1Send lambs as gifts to the ruler of the land. Send them across the desert from Sela to Mount Zion.
2The women of Moab crossing the River Arnon are like a flock of birds scattered from their nests.
3Moab's messengers say to the people of Judah, “Be kind and help us! Shade us from the heat of the noonday sun. Hide our refugees! Don't turn them away.
4Let our people live in your country and find safety here.” Moab, your cruel enemies will disappear; they will no longer attack and destroy your land.
5Then a kingdom of love will be set up, and someone from David's family will rule with fairness. He will do what is right and quickly bring justice.
Moab's pride is destroyed
6 We have heard of Moab's pride. Its people strut and boast, but without reason.
7Tell everyone in Moab to mourn for their nation. Tell them to cry and weep for those fine raisins of Kir-Hareseth.
8Vineyards near Heshbon and Sibmah have turned brown. The rulers of nations used to get drunk on wine from those vineyards that spread to Jazer, then across the desert and beyond the sea.
9Now I mourn like Jazer for the vineyards of Sibmah. I shed tears for Heshbon and for Elealeh. There will be no more harvest celebrations
10or joyful and happy times, while bringing in the crops. Singing and shouting are gone from the vineyards. There are no joyful shouts where grapes were pressed. God has silenced them all.
11Deep in my heart I suffer for Moab and Kir-Heres.
12It's useless for Moab's people to wear themselves out by going to their altars to worship and pray.
13The Lord has already said all this about Moab.
14Now he says, “The contract of a hired worker is good for three years, but Moab's glory and greatness won't last any longer than that. Only a few of its people will survive, and they will be left helpless.”