Isaiah 15

New International Reader's Version

The city of Ar in Moab is destroyed.
    It happened in a single night.
Kir in Moab is also destroyed.
    It happened in a single night.
² The people of Dibon go up to their temple to worship.
    They go to their high places to weep.
    The people of Moab cry over the cities of Nebo and Medeba.
All their heads are shaved.
    All their beards have been cut off.
³ In the streets they wear the rough clothing people wear when they’re sad.
    On their roofs and in the market places
    all of them are crying.
They fall down flat with their faces toward the ground.
    And they weep.
⁴ The people of Heshbon and Elealeh cry out.
    Their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.
So the fighting men of Moab cry out.
    Their hearts are weak.

⁵ My heart cries out over Moab.
    Some who run away get as far as Zoar.
    Others run all the way to Eglath Shelishiyah.
Others go up the hill to Luhith.
    They are weeping as they go.
Still others travel the road to Horonaim.
    They sing a song of sadness because their town is being destroyed.
⁶ The waters at Nimrim are dried up.
    And so is the grass.
The plants have died.
    Nothing green is left.
⁷ The people are trying to escape
    through the Valley of the Poplar Trees.
They are carrying with them the wealth
    they have collected and stored up.
⁸ Their loud cries echo along the border of Moab.
    They reach as far as Eglaim.
    Their songs of sadness reach all the way to Beer Elim.
⁹ The waters of the city of Dimon are full of blood.
    But the Lord will bring even more trouble on Dimon.
He will bring lions against those who run away from Moab.
    They will also attack those who remain in the land.