So I will weep with sorrow for Moab. I will cry out in sadness for all of Moab. I will moan ¹  for the people of Kir Heres.

“‘Do not weep for the king who was killed. Do not grieve for him. But weep mournfully for the king who has gone into exile. For he will never return to see his native land again. ¹ 

So my heart moans for Moab like a flute playing a funeral song. Yes, like a flute playing a funeral song, my heart moans for the people of Kir Heres. For the wealth they have gained will perish.

We hoped for good fortune, but nothing good has come of it. We hoped for a time of relief, but instead we experience terror. ¹ 

Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for good to come to these people! ¹ 

Moreover, ¹  the Lord says, “Sing for joy for the descendants of Jacob. Utter glad shouts for that foremost of the nations. ²  Make your praises heard. ³  Then say, ‘Lord, rescue your people. Deliver those of Israel who remain alive.’ ⁴ 

Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Babylon. For destroyers from the north will attack it,” says the Lord. ¹ 

There is no one to plead your cause. There are no remedies for your wounds. ¹  There is no healing for you.

Set up a gravestone for Moab, for it will certainly be laid in ruins! ¹  Its cities will be laid waste and become uninhabited.”

“You say, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets of good news ¹  for us here in Babylon.’

Pack your bags for exile, you inhabitants of poor dear Egypt. ¹  For Memphis will be laid waste. It will lie in ruins ²  and be uninhabited.

All your allies have abandoned you. ¹  They no longer have any concern for you. For I have attacked you like an enemy would. I have chastened you cruelly. For your wickedness is so great and your sin is so much. ² 

Kill all her soldiers! ¹  Let them be slaughtered! ²  They are doomed, ³  for their day of reckoning ⁴  has come, the time for them to be punished.”

The Babylonians are all like lions roaring for prey. They are like lion cubs growling for something to eat. ¹ 

“‘Sure to be judged ¹  is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. ²  He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.

For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ¹  ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you ²  a future filled with hope. ³ 

I answered, “Oh, Lord God, ¹  I really ²  do not know how to speak well enough for that, ³  for I am too young.” ⁴ 

For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘Fair Babylon ¹  will be like a threshing floor which has been trampled flat for harvest. The time for her to be cut down and harvested will come very soon.’ ² 

Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals. Their eyes are strained looking for food, because there is none to be found.” ¹ 

For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation ¹  too. I will repay them for all they have done!’” ²