Because Ar is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone;
because Kir is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone.^(A)
2 Daughter Dibon^[a] has gone up
    to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Medeba
    Moab wails.
Every head is shaved;
    every beard is shorn;^(B)
3 in the streets they bind on sackcloth;
    on the housetops and in the squares
    everyone wails and melts in tears.^(C)
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
    their voices are heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the loins of Moab quiver;^[b]
    his soul trembles.
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab;
    his fugitives flee to Zoar,
    to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;
on the road to Horonaim
    they raise a cry of destruction;^(D)
6 the waters of Nimrim
    are a desolation;
the grass is withered; the new growth fails;
    vegetation is no more.^(E)
7 Therefore the abundance they have gained
    and what they have laid up
they carry away
    over the Wadi of the Willows.^(F)
8 For a cry has gone
    around the land of Moab;
the wailing reaches to Eglaim;
    the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
⁹ For the waters of Dibon^[c] are full of blood,
    yet I will bring upon Dibon^[d] even more—
a lion for those of Moab who escape,
    for the remnant of the land.^(G)

16 Send lambs
    to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
    to the mount of daughter Zion.^(A)
2 Like fluttering birds,
    like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
    at the fords of the Arnon.^(B)
3 “Give counsel;
    grant justice;
make your shade like night
    at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts;
    do not betray the fugitive;^(C)
4 let the outcasts of Moab
    settle among you;
be a refuge to them
    from the destroyer.”

When the oppressor is no more,
    and destruction has ceased,
and marauders have vanished from the land,^(D)
5 then a throne shall be established in steadfast love
    in the tent of David,
    and on it shall sit in faithfulness
a ruler who seeks justice
    and is swift to do what is right.^(E)

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab
    —how proud he is!—
of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
    his boasts are false.^(F)
7 Therefore let Moab wail;
    let everyone wail for Moab.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
    for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.^(G)

⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish,
    and the vines of Sibmah,
whose clusters once made drunk
    the lords of the nations,
reached to Jazer
    and strayed to the desert;
their shoots once spread abroad
    and crossed over the sea.^(H)
9 Therefore I weep as Jazer weeps
    for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
    O Heshbon and Elealeh,
for the shout over your fruit harvest
    and your grain harvest has ceased.^(I)
10 Joy and gladness are taken away
    from the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no exultation is heard;
    no shouts are raised;
no treader treads out wine in the presses;
    the vintage shout is hushed.^[a](J)
11 Therefore my heart moans like a harp for Moab
    and my very soul for Kir-heres.^(K)