“We have heard of Moab’s pride – her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart. I know her insolence but it is futile,” declares the LORD, “and her boasts accomplish nothing. vs. 33 Joy and gladness are gone from the orchards and fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy. Although there are shouts, they are not shouts of joy.

It sounds as though Moab was a prosperous country, and her inhabitants were proud of their wealth and independence. They were also enemies and oppressors of God’s people. God has promised to come against them. He will not only destroy their fields and vineyards, He will remove their joy and gladness. This is even more of a calamity than just the loss of their crops. To be poor AND joyless is double the suffering. Even if we suffer financial loss, if we have joy in the Lord, we are blessed and rich.