Moab’s Destruction (Zephaniah 2:8–11)
1 DBY Send the lamb of the ruler of the land from the rock to the wilderness, — unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. BSB BSB: Send the tribute lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mount of Daughter Zion.
2 DBY And it shall be that as a wandering bird, as a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon. BSB BSB: Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon:
3 DBY Bring in counsel, execute justice; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of noonday; hide the outcasts, discover not the fugitive. BSB BSB: “Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.
4 DBY Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the waster. For the extortioner is at an end, the wasting hath ceased, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. BSB BSB: Let my fugitives stay with you; be a refuge for Moab from the destroyer.” When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ceased, and the oppressors have vanished from the land,
5 DBY And a throne shall be established in mercy: and in the tent of David there shall sit upon it, in truth, one judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness. BSB BSB: in loving devotion a throne will be established in the tent of David. A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness will sit on it in faithfulness.
6 DBY We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, — he is very proud, — of his pride, and his arrogance, and his wrath: his pratings are vain. BSB BSB: We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.
7 DBY Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab; every one of them shall howl. For the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn, verily afflicted. BSB BSB: Therefore let Moab wail; let them wail together for Moab. Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, you who are utterly stricken.
8 DBY For the fields of Heshbon languish, the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants: they reached unto Jaazer, they wandered through the wilderness; its shoots stretched out, they went beyond the sea. BSB BSB: For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the sea.
9 DBY Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jaazer for the vine of Sibmah; with my tears will I water thee, Heshbon, and Elealeh, for a cry is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest. BSB BSB: So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.
10 DBY And joy and gladness is taken away out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there is no singing, neither is there shouting: the treaders tread out no wine in the presses, I have made the cry of the winepress to cease. BSB BSB: Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards. No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses; I have put an end to the cheering.
11 DBY Therefore my bowels sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirheres. BSB BSB: Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.
12 DBY And it shall come to pass, when Moab shall appear, shall weary himself on the high place, and enter into his sanctuary to pray, that he shall not prevail. BSB BSB: When Moab appears on the high place, when he wearies himself and enters his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.
13 DBY This is the word which Jehovah hath spoken from of old concerning Moab. BSB BSB: This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab.
14 DBY And now Jehovah speaketh saying, Within three years, as the years of a hired servant, and the glory of Moab shall be brought to nothing, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be small, few, of no account. BSB BSB: And now the LORD says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.