Jeremiah 48:17-20

The Message

^11-17 “Moab has always taken it easy—
    lazy as a dog in the sun,
Never had to work for a living,
    never faced any trouble,
Never had to grow up,
    never once worked up a sweat.
But those days are a thing of the past.
    I’ll put him to work at hard labor.
That will wake him up to the world of hard knocks.
    That will smash his illusions.
Moab will be as ashamed of god Chemosh
    as Israel was ashamed of her Bethel calf-gods,
    the calf-gods she thought were so great.
For how long do you think you’ll be saying, ‘We’re tough.
    We can beat anyone anywhere’?
The destruction of Moab has already begun.
    Her choice young soldiers are lying dead right now.”
The King’s Decree—
    his full name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Yes. Moab’s doom is on countdown,
    disaster targeted and launched.
Weep for Moab, friends and neighbors,
    all who know how famous he’s been.
Lament, ‘His mighty scepter snapped in two like a toothpick,
    that magnificent royal staff!’

^18-20 “Come down from your high horse, pampered beauty of Dibon.
    Sit in dog dung.
The destroyer of Moab will come against you.
    He’ll wreck your safe, secure houses.
Stand on the roadside,
    pampered women of Aroer.
Interview the refugees who are running away.
    Ask them, ‘What’s happened? And why?’
Moab will be an embarrassing memory, nothing left of the place.
    Wail and weep your eyes out!
Tell the bad news along the Arnon river.
    Tell the world that Moab is no more.