An Oracle Concerning Moab

15 An (A)oracle concerning (B)Moab.

Because (C)Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone;
because (D)Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone.
He has gone up to the temple,[a] and to (E)Dibon,
    to the high places[b] to weep;
over (F)Nebo and over (G)Medeba
    Moab (H)wails.
On every head is (I)baldness;
    every beard is shorn;
in the streets they wear sackcloth;
    on the housetops and in the squares
    everyone wails and melts in tears.
(J)Heshbon and (K)Elealeh cry out;
    their voice is heard as far as (L)Jahaz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
    his soul trembles.
My heart cries out for Moab;
    her fugitives flee to Zoar,
    to (M)Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the (N)ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;
on the road to (O)Horonaim
    they raise a cry of destruction;
the waters of (P)Nimrim
    are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,
    the greenery is no more.
(Q)Therefore the abundance they have gained
    and what they have laid up
they carry away
    over the Brook of the Willows.
For a cry has gone
    around the land of Moab;
her wailing reaches to Eglaim;
    her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
For the waters of (R)Dibon[c] are full of blood;
    for I will bring upon Dibon even more,
(S)a lion for those of Moab who escape,
    for the remnant of the land.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 15:2 Hebrew the house
  2. Isaiah 15:2 Or temple, even Dibon to the high places
  3. Isaiah 15:9 Dead Sea Scroll, Vulgate (compare Syriac); Masoretic Text Dimon; twice in this verse

A Prophecy Against Moab(A)

15 A prophecy(B) against Moab:(C)

Ar(D) in Moab is ruined,(E)
    destroyed in a night!
Kir(F) in Moab is ruined,
    destroyed in a night!
Dibon(G) goes up to its temple,
    to its high places(H) to weep;
    Moab wails(I) over Nebo(J) and Medeba.
Every head is shaved(K)
    and every beard cut off.(L)
In the streets they wear sackcloth;(M)
    on the roofs(N) and in the public squares(O)
they all wail,(P)
    prostrate with weeping.(Q)
Heshbon(R) and Elealeh(S) cry out,
    their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.(T)
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,
    and their hearts are faint.

My heart cries out(U) over Moab;(V)
    her fugitives(W) flee as far as Zoar,(X)
    as far as Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the hill to Luhith,
    weeping as they go;
on the road to Horonaim(Y)
    they lament their destruction.(Z)
The waters of Nimrim are dried up(AA)
    and the grass is withered;(AB)
the vegetation is gone(AC)
    and nothing green is left.(AD)
So the wealth they have acquired(AE) and stored up
    they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.
Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab;
    their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,
    their lamentation as far as Beer(AF) Elim.
The waters of Dimon[a] are full of blood,
    but I will bring still more upon Dimon[b]
a lion(AG) upon the fugitives of Moab(AH)
    and upon those who remain in the land.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 15:9 Dimon, a wordplay on Dibon (see verse 2), sounds like the Hebrew for blood.
  2. Isaiah 15:9 Dimon, a wordplay on Dibon (see verse 2), sounds like the Hebrew for blood.