Moab’s Destruction (Zephaniah 2:8–11)
1 UDB The rulers of Moab will say to each other, "We must send some lambs from the city of Sela as a gift to the ruler of Judah to persuade him to not allow his army to attack us anymore. We should send them through the desert to the king in Jerusalem." BSB BSB: Send the tribute lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mount of Daughter Zion.
2 UDB The women of Moab will be left alone at the fords of the Arnon River; they will be like birds that have been pushed out of their nests. BSB BSB: Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon:
3 UDB They will cry out, "Help us! Tell us what we should do! Protect us completely, we who are running away from our enemies, and do not betray us. 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 UDB Allow those of us who are fleeing from Moab to stay with you; hide us from our enemies who want to destroy us! Then there will be no one to oppress us, and our enemies will stop destroying our 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 UDB Then Yahweh will appoint someone to be king who will be a descendant of King David. As this man rules, he will be merciful and truthful. He will always do what is fair and quickly do what is righteous. 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 UDB We people of Judah have heard about the people of Moab; we have heard that they are very proud and conceited; they are insolent, but what they say about themselves is not true. BSB BSB: We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.
7 UDB Then all the people in Moab will weep. They will all mourn because there will be no more raisin cakes in the city of Kir Hareseth. But more than the cakes, they mourn for the people who lived there who were all killed. 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 UDB The crops in the fields of Heshbon will wither, and the vineyards of Sibmah will wither also. The armies of other nations will destroy Moab, which is like a beautiful grapevine whose branches spread north to Jazer and east to the desert. Its branches spread very far west, to the west side of the Dead 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 UDB Indeed I will weep along with Jazer for the vineyard of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh. For on your fields of summer fruits and harvest I have ended the shouts of joy. 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 UDB People will no longer be glad at harvest time. No one will sing in the vineyards; no one will shout joyfully. No one will tread on grapes to get grape juice for wine; there will be nothing to shout about joyfully. 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 UDB I cry in my inner being for Moab; my groaning is like a sad song played on a harp. I am sad in my inner being for Kir Hareseth. BSB BSB: Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.
12 UDB The people of Moab will go and pray at their high places, but that will not help them. They will cry out to their gods in their temples, but no one will be able to rescue them. 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 UDB Yahweh has already spoken those things about Moab. BSB BSB: This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab.
14 UDB But now he says that exactly three years from now he will destroy all the things that the people of Moab have been proud of. Even though they have a huge number of people in Moab now, only a few people will remain alive, and they will be weak. 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.