1 Send a lamb as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela across the desert to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 Like birds flapping about, like a nest scattered, the daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.
3 "Offer advice, give a ruling; make your shadow like night at the full height of noon. Shelter the outcasts; do not give away the refugee.
4 Let my outcasts stay with you, Moab; be a hiding place for them from the destroyer." When the oppressor is gone and the ravaging has stopped, when the one who tramples has disappeared from the land,
5 a throne will be set firm in steadfast love, and on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David, will sit one who judges, who looks for justice and is quick to do what is right.
6 We have heard of Moab's pride, how exceedingly proud he is: his arrogance, his pride, his insolence, and his empty boasts.
7 So Moab howls for Moab, all of them howl; you moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, utterly crushed.
8 The fields of Heshbon wither, and so does the vine of Sibmah; the rulers of the nations have trampled down its finest clusters, which once reached as far as Jazer and trailed into the desert; its shoots spread out and crossed over the sea.
9 So I weep as Jazer weeps for the vine of Sibmah; I soak you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for the shout of battle has fallen on your summer fruit and your harvest.
10 Gladness and joy are gone from the orchard; no one sings or cheers in the vineyards; no one treads out wine in the vats, for I have silenced the shouting.
11 So my insides throb for Moab like a harp, and my inmost self for Kir-heres.
12 When Moab shows up and wears himself out at the high place, when he goes into his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.
13 That is the word the LORD spoke long ago about Moab.
14 But now the LORD says: "In three years, counted as a hired man counts them, Moab's glory and all its great population will be held in contempt, and the few left will be weak and insignificant."