Old/New Testament

How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging^[a] has become quiet!
⁵ The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers.
⁶ It struck the peoples in anger
with unceasing blows.
It subdued the nations in rage
with relentless persecution.
⁷ All the earth is calm and at rest;
people shout with a ringing cry.
⁸ Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon
rejoice over you:^(I)
“Since you have been laid low,
no woodcutter has come against us.”

⁹ Sheol below is eager to greet your coming.
He stirs up the spirits of the departed for you—
all the rulers^[b] of the earth.
He makes all the kings of the nations
rise from their thrones.
¹⁰ They all respond to you, saying:
“You too have become as weak as we are;
you have become like us!
¹¹ Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol,
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots are spread out under you,
and worms cover you.”

¹² Shining morning star,^[c](J)
how you have fallen from the heavens!^(K)
You destroyer of nations,
you have been cut down to the ground.
¹³ You said to yourself:
“I will ascend to the heavens;^(L)
I will set up my throne
above the stars of God.^(M)
I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,
in the remotest parts of the North.^[d](N)
14 I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
¹⁵ But you will be brought down to Sheol
into the deepest regions of the Pit.^(O)

¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you;
they will look closely at you:
“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,
who shook the kingdoms,
¹⁷ who turned the world into a wilderness,^(P)
who destroyed its cities
and would not release the prisoners to return home?”
¹⁸ All the kings of the nations
lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.
¹⁹ But you are thrown out without a grave,
like a worthless branch,
covered by those slain with the sword
and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.
²⁰ You will not join them in burial,
because you destroyed your land
and slaughtered your own people.
The offspring of evildoers
will never be remembered.^(Q)
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,
because of the iniquity^(R) of their fathers.
They will never rise up to possess a land
or fill the surface of the earth with cities.

As I have purposed, so it will be;
as I have planned it, so it will happen.^(S)
25 I will break Assyria^(T) in My land;
I will tread him down on My mountain.
Then his yoke will be taken from them,
and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.
²⁶ This is the plan^(U) prepared
for the whole earth,
and this is the hand stretched out
against all the nations.
²⁷ The Lord of Hosts Himself has planned it;
therefore, who can stand in its way?
It is His hand that is outstretched,
so who can turn it back?

²⁹ Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,
because the rod of the one who struck you^(X) is broken.
For a viper will come from the root^[f] of a snake,
and from its egg comes a flying serpent.^(Y)
30 Then the firstborn^(Z) of the poor will be well fed,
and the impoverished will lie down in safety,
but I will kill your root with hunger,
and your remnant will be slain.^[g]
31 Wail, you gates!^(AA) Cry out, city!
Tremble with fear,^(AB) all Philistia!
For a cloud of dust is coming from the north,^(AC)
and there is no one missing from the invader’s ranks.
³² What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation?
The Lord has founded Zion,^(AD)
and His afflicted people find refuge in her.

Ar in Moab is devastated,^(AF)
destroyed in a night.
Kir in Moab is devastated,
destroyed in a night.
² Dibon went up to its temple
to weep at its high places.
Moab wails on Nebo and at^[h] Medeba.
Every head is shaved;
every beard is cut off.
³ In its streets they wear sackcloth;
on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails,
falling down and weeping.
⁴ Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.^(AG)
Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out,
and they tremble.^[i]
5 My heart cries out over Moab,
whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar,^(AH)
to Eglath-shelishiyah;
they go up the slope of Luhith weeping;
they raise a cry of destruction
on the road to Horonaim.
⁶ The waters of Nimrim^(AI) are desolate;
the grass is withered, the foliage is gone,
and the vegetation has vanished.
⁷ So they carry their wealth and belongings
over the Wadi of the Willows.^(AJ)
8 For their cry echoes
throughout the territory of Moab.
Their wailing reaches Eglaim;
their wailing reaches Beer-elim.
⁹ The waters of Dibon^[j] are full of blood,^(AK)
but I will bring on Dibon^[k] even more than this—
a lion for those who escape from Moab,
and for the survivors in the land.^(AL)

16 Send lambs to the ruler of the land,^(AM)
from Sela in the desert^(AN)
to the mountain of Daughter Zion.
² Like a bird fleeing,
forced from the nest,
the daughters of Moab
will be at the fords of the Arnon.

³ Give us counsel and make a decision.
Shelter us at noonday
with shade that is as dark as night.
Hide the refugees;^(AO)
do not betray the one who flees.
⁴ Let my refugees stay with you;
be a refuge for Moab^[l] from the aggressor.

When the oppressor has gone,
destruction has ended,
and marauders have vanished from the land.
⁵ Then in the tent of David
a throne will be established by faithful love.^(AP)
A judge who seeks what is right
and is quick to execute justice
will sit on the throne forever.

⁶ We have heard of Moab’s pride^(AQ)—
how very proud he is—
his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,
and his empty boasting.
⁷ Therefore let Moab wail;
let every one of them wail for Moab.
Mourn, you who are completely devastated,
for the raisin cakes^(AR) of Kir-hareseth.^(AS)
8 For Heshbon’s terraced vineyards
and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered.
The rulers of the nations
have trampled its choice vines
that reached as far as Jazer^(AT)
and spread to the desert.
Their shoots spread out
and reached the Dead Sea.^(AU)
9 So I join with Jazer
to weep for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears.
Triumphant shouts have fallen silent^[m]
over your summer fruit and your harvest.
¹⁰ Joy and rejoicing^(AV) have been removed from the orchard;
no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards.^(AW)
No one tramples grapes^[n] in the winepresses.
I have put an end to the shouting.
¹¹ Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab,^(AX)
as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.
¹² When Moab appears on the high place,
when he tires^[o] himself out^(AY)
and comes to his sanctuary to pray,
it will do him no good.^(AZ)

Get up, sleeper,^(Q) and rise up from the dead,^(R)
and the Messiah will shine on you.^[d](S)