The burden against Moab continues, but the chapter pivots on verse 5: in mercy a throne shall be established, and one shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and hasting righteousness — the Davidic throne promised to the Root of Jesse, set in contrast to Moab's pride, wrath, and lies which cannot stand. Moab is counseled to shelter Jehovah's outcasts and become a covert to them from the spoiler, a plain prophecy that the gathering remnant will pass through Gentile lands and that those who hide the wandering covenant people will be remembered. Moab refuses, trusts her high place, prays in her own sanctuary and does not prevail; within three years her glory is contemned and the remnant left very small. The pattern is fixed: pride against the Davidic order ends in a feeble remnant; mercy toward the outcasts of Israel is the only covering that holds.