9. Set up a gravestone for Moab,for it will certainly be laid in ruins!Its cities will be laid wasteand become uninhabited.”
10. A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work!A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction!
11. “From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed.It has never been taken into exile.Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs,never poured out from one jar to another.They are like wine which tastes like it always did,whose aroma has remained unchanged.
12. But the time is coming when I will sendmen against Moab who will empty it out.They will empty the towns of their people,then will lay those towns in ruins.I, the Lord, affirm it!
13. The people of Moab will be disappointed by their god Chemosh.They will be as disappointed as the people of Israel were when they put their trust in the calf god at Bethel.
14. How can you men of Moab say, ‘We are heroes,men who are mighty in battle?’
15. Moab will be destroyed. Its towns will be invaded.Its finest young men will be slaughtered.I, the King, the Lord who rules over all, affirm it!
16. Moab’s destruction is at hand.Disaster will come on it quickly.
17. Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it,all of you nations that know of its fame.Mourn and say, ‘Alas, its powerful influence has been broken!Its glory and power have been done away!’
18. Come down from your place of honor;sit on the dry ground, you who live in Dibon.For the one who will destroy Moab will attack you;he will destroy your fortifications.
19. You who live in Aroer, stand by the road and watch.Question the man who is fleeing and the woman who is escaping.Ask them, ‘What has happened?’