¹ Send a ram¹ to the ruler of the land, from Sela across the desert to the mountain of ⌞daughter Zion⌟.²

1. Possibly “rams” if a scribe accidentally omitted the Hebrew plural ending because the next word begins with that same letter
2. Literally “the daughter of Zion”

² And this shall be: like a bird fleeing from a thrust away nest shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon.

³ “Bring counsel, make a decision; make your shade like the night in the middle of noonday. Hide the outcasts; you must not betray the fugitive.

⁴ Let my outcasts of Moab dwell as aliens among you; be a hiding place for them from the presence of the destroyer.” When the oppressor is no more, destruction has stopped, the ⌞one who tramples has⌟¹ disappeared from the land,

1. Literally “one who tramples have,” with mismatched singular and plural

⁵ then a throne shall be established in steadfast love, and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and zealous for righteousness.

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab—exceedingly proud— of his arrogance, pride, and insolence; ⌞his boasting is not true⌟.¹

1. Literally “not so his boasting”

⁷ Therefore Moab wails; all of it wails for Moab, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you moan, ⌞utterly devastated⌟.¹

1. Literally “surely destroyed”

⁸ For Heshbon withers the fields, the vine of Sibmah; rulers of nations have broken down her tendrils, they reached up to Jazer, they wandered to the desert; her shoots spread abroad, they crossed over the sea.

⁹ Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I drench you with my tears,¹ Heshbon and Elealeh, for a jubilant shout has fallen over your summer fruit and harvest.

1. Hebrew “tear”

¹⁰ And joy and gladness are¹ taken away from the fruitful land, and in the vineyards no one exults, no one shouts for joy; no treader treads wine in the presses; I have put to an end to the jubilant shout.

1. The Hebrew is singular

¹¹ Therefore my ⌞heart moans⌟¹ like a harp for Moab and my inner parts for Kir-heres.

1. Literally “intestines moan,”; in Hebrew, the “intestines” are the seat of the emotions, which would correspond to the “heart” in English

¹² And this shall happen: when Moab appears, when it is weary upon the high place and it comes to its sanctuary to pray, it will not prevail.

¹³ This was the word that Yahweh spoke to Moab ⌞in the past⌟.¹

1. Literally “from then”

¹⁴ But now Yahweh speaks, saying, “In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will become contemptible, with all of the great multitude, and the remnant will be a few, small, not strong.