Isaiah 15
1 [I received] this message [from Yahweh] about the Moab [people-group]: In one night [two of your important cities], Ar and Kir, will be destroyed.
The burden of Moab. For in a night, Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing. For in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing.
2 The people of Dibon, [your capital city, ] will go to their temple to mourn/weep; they will go to [their shrines] on the hilltops to weep. They will wail because of [what happened to] Nebo and Medeba [towns in the south]; they will all shave the hair of their heads, and the men will cut off their beards [to show that they are grieving].
They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.
3 In the streets people will wear rough sackcloth, and on their [flat] rooftops and in the [city] plazas everyone will wail, with tears streaming down their faces.
In their streets, they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping abundantly.
4 [The people of] Heshbon [city] and Elealeh [towns in the north of Moab] will cry out; people as far away as Jahaz [town in the south] will hear them wailing. Therefore the soldiers of Moab will tremble and cry out and they will be very afraid [IDM].
Heshbon cries out with Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud. Their souls tremble within them.
5 I feel very sorry for [the people of] Moab; they will flee to Zoar and Eglath-Shelishiyah [towns in the far south]. They will cry as they walk up to Luhith [town]. All along the road to Horonaim [town] people will mourn because their country has been destroyed.
My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.
6 The water in Nimrim [Valley] will have dried up. The grass there will be withered; the green plants will [all] be gone, and there will be nothing left that is green.
For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing.
7 The people will pick up their possessions and carry them across Willows Brook.
Therefore they will carry away the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have stored up, over the brook of the willows.
8 Throughout the country of Moab, [people] will be crying; people as far away as Eglaim [in the south] and Beer-Elim [in the north] will hear them wailing.
For the cry has gone around the borders of Moab, its wailing to Eglaim, and its wailing to Beer Elim.
9 The stream near Dimon will become red from the blood [of people who have been killed], but I will cause the people of Moab to experience even more [trouble]: Lions will attack those who [are trying to] escape from Moab and will [also] attack the people who remain in that country.
For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will bring yet more on Dimon, a lion on those of Moab who escape, and on the remnant of the land.
