More trouble for Moab
1People of Moab, you must send a ram
to the king of the land_of_Judah.
You must send it from Sela
in the desert to Mount_Zion.
2At the places of the Arnon River
where the water is not deep,
the women of Moab are like birds.
They try to fly away when the big birds
have kicked them out of their nest.
3They ask the people of Judah:
‘Tell us what we must do.
Make a plan to protect us.
You must be to us
like a shadow when it is hot.
You must hide the people who flee to you,
and you must not tell where they are.
4There are people who have fled from Moab.
You must let them stay with you,
and let them hide there.
Protect them from the people
who want to kill them.’
People of Judah, the people
who oppressed you will disappear.
They will not make you suffer any longer
or trample your land.
5The Lord who loves you
will make someone king
who will be a descendant of King David.
It will be someone who will
judge fairly and do what is right.
6They have told us that
the people of Moab are proud.
They think they are wonderful
but they have nothing to boast about.
7That is why the Moabite people
will cry for each other.
They will all cry and be discouraged.
They will cry about the raisins
of the city of Kir-Hareseth,
8because the vineyards of the towns
of Heshbon and Sibmah have dried up.
The people who rule over nations
have become drunk from red wine.
The branches of the vines have grown
as far as the town of Jazer, into the desert.
The branches have grown further and further,
as far as the other side of the sea.
9That is why I am crying
with the people of Jazer
for the vineyards of the town of Sibmah.
I am crying a lot of tears with
the people of Heshbon and Elealeh,
because there is no fruit
or wheat that makes them sing.
10There is no fruit on the trees
that can make them happy,
and there is nothing in the vineyard
that can make them sing.
There is no one trampling grapes in the wine-press.
The Lord said: ‘People
will no longer be happy,
because they have not picked fruit
or harvested wheat. I have stopped it.
11I am very sad about Moab
and Kir-Hareseth, and I cry like a lyre.
12The Moabite people go to their
places_of_sacrifice and temples
to pray and to sacrifice a lot of offerings,
but that will not help them.’
13This is what the Lord said about Moab long ago. 14And now the Lord says:
‘For 3 years they have suffered
like the 3 years of someone
that you have hired to work for you.
Now no one will think Moab is important.
Only a few of their people will stay alive
and they will be worthless.’
