1 Send ye the lambs for the ruler of the land From the crags that are toward the wilderness, Unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 For it shall be that, as wandering birds, As a scattered nest, So shall the daughters of Moab be At the fords of Arnon.
3 ’Give counsel, execute justice; Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; Hide the outcasts; betray not the fugitive.
4 Let mine outcasts dwell with thee; As for Moab, be thou a covert to him from the face of the spoiler.’ For the extortion is at an end, spoiling ceaseth, They that trampled down are consumed out of the land;
5 And a throne is established through mercy, And there sitteth thereon in truth, in the tent of David, One that judgeth, and seeketh justice, and is ready in righteousness.
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; He is very proud; Even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his arrogancy, His ill-founded boastings.
7 Therefore shall Moab wail for Moab, Every one shall wail; for the sweet cakes of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn, Sorely stricken.
8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, And the vine of Sibmah, Whose choice plants did overcome The lords of nations; They reached even unto Jazer, They wandered into the wilderness; Her branches were spread abroad, They passed over the sea.
9 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer For the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh; For upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest The battle shout is fallen.
10 And gladness and joy are taken away Out of the fruitful field; And in the vineyards there shall be no singing, Neither shall there be shouting; No treader shall tread out wine in the presses; I have made the vintage shout to cease.
11 Wherefore my heart moaneth like a harp for Moab, And mine inward parts for Kir-heres.
12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab hath wearied himself upon the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail
13 This is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in time past.
14 But now the LORD hath spoken, saying: ‘Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall wax contemptible for all his great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and without strength.’