New International Version NIV
Good News Translation GNT
1 Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of Daughter Zion.
1
From the city of Sela in the desert the people of Moab send a lamb as a present to the one who rules in Jerusalem.
2 Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
2
They wait on the banks of the Arnon River and move aimlessly back and forth, like birds driven from their nest.
3 “Make up your mind,” Moab says. “Render a decision. Make your shadow like night— at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees.
3
They say to the people of Judah, "Tell us what to do. Protect us like a tree that casts a cool shadow in the heat of noon, and let us rest in your shade. We are refugees; hide us where no one can find us.
4 Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.” The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land.
4
Let us stay in your land. Protect us from those who want to destroy us." (Oppression and destruction will end, and those who are devastating the country will be gone.
5 In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it— one from the house of David— one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.
5
Then one of David's descendants will be king, and he will rule the people with faithfulness and love. He will be quick to do what is right, and he will see that justice is done.)
6 We have heard of Moab’s pride— how great is her arrogance!— of her conceit, her pride and her insolence; but her boasts are empty.
6
The people of Judah say, "We have heard how proud the people of Moab are. We know that they are arrogant and conceited, but their boasts are empty."
7 Therefore the Moabites wail, they wail together for Moab. Lament and grieve for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.
7
The people of Moab will weep because of the troubles they suffer. They will all weep when they remember the fine food they used to eat in the city of Kir Heres. They will be driven to despair.
8 The fields of Heshbon wither, the vines of Sibmah also. The rulers of the nations have trampled down the choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots spread out and went as far as the sea.
8
The farms near Heshbon and the vineyards of Sibmah are destroyed - those vineyards whose wine used to make the rulers of the nations drunk. At one time the vines spread as far as the city of Jazer, and eastward into the desert, and westward to the other side of the Dead Sea.
9 So I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibmah. Heshbon and Elealeh, I drench you with tears! The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit and over your harvests have been stilled.
9
Now I weep for Sibmah's vines as I weep for Jazer. My tears fall for Heshbon and Elealeh, because there is no harvest to make the people glad.
10 Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards; no one treads out wine at the presses, for I have put an end to the shouting.
10
No one is happy now in the fertile fields. No one shouts or sings in the vineyards. No one tramples grapes to make wine; the shouts of joy are ended.
11 My heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir Hareseth.
11
I groan with sadness for Moab, with grief for Kir Heres.
12 When Moab appears at her high place, she only wears herself out; when she goes to her shrine to pray, it is to no avail.
12
The people of Moab wear themselves out going to their mountain shrines and to their temples to pray, but it will do them no good.
13 This is the word the LORD has already spoken concerning Moab.
13
That is the message the Lord gave earlier about Moab.
14 But now the LORD says: “Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”
14
And now the Lord says, "In exactly three years Moab's great wealth will disappear. Of its many people, only a few will survive, and they will be weak."
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.