Jeremiah

Jeremiah 48

47 verses · Major Prophets · Old Testament

1Of Moab. Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says:

“Woe to Nebo! For it is laid waste. Kiriathaim is disappointed. It is taken. Misgab is put to shame and broken down. 2The praise of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they have devised evil against her: ‘Come! Let’s cut her off from being a nation.’ You also, Madmen, will be brought to silence. The sword will pursue you. 3The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction! 4Moab is destroyed. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. 5For they will go up by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping. For at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction. 6Flee! Save your lives! Be like the juniper bush in the wilderness. 7For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also will be taken. Chemosh will go out into captivity, his priests and his princes together. 8The destroyer will come on every city, and no city will escape; the valley also will perish, and the plain will be destroyed; as Yahweh has spoken. 9Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get herself away: and her cities will become a desolation, without anyone to dwell in them.
10“Cursed is he who does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.
11“Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed. 12Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will send to him those who pour off, and they will pour him off; and they will empty his vessels, and break their containers in pieces. 13Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.
14“How do you say, ‘We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war?’ 15Moab is laid waste, and they have gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,” says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies. 16“The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast. 17All you who are around him, bemoan him, and all you who know his name; say, ‘How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!’
18“You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you. He has destroyed your strongholds. 19Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch. Ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, ‘What has been done?’ 20Moab is disappointed; for it is broken down. Wail and cry! Tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. 21Judgment has come on the plain country, on Holon, on Jahzah, on Mephaath, 22on Dibon, on Nebo, on Beth Diblathaim, 23on Kiriathaim, on Beth Gamul, on Beth Meon, 24on Kerioth, on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. 25The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,” says Yahweh.
26“Make him drunken; for he magnified himself against Yahweh. Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will be in derision. 27For wasn’t Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head. 28You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock. Be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.
29“We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud in his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the arrogance of his heart. 30I know his wrath,” says Yahweh, “that it is nothing; his boastings have done nothing. 31Therefore I will wail for Moab. Yes, I will cry out for all Moab. They will mourn for the men of Kir Heres. 32With more than the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah. Your branches passed over the sea. They reached even to the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruits and on your vintage. 33Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab. I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses. No one will tread with shouting. The shouting will be no shouting. 34From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for the waters of Nimrim will also become desolate. 35Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,” says Yahweh, “him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods. 36Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished. 37For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist. 38On all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which no one delights,” says Yahweh. 39“How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So will Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are around him.” 40For Yahweh says: “Behold, he will fly as an eagle, and will spread out his wings against Moab. 41Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized. The heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. 42Moab will be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Yahweh. 43Terror, the pit, and the snare are on you, inhabitant of Moab,” says Yahweh. 44“He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken in the snare: for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.
45“Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, and a flame from the middle of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. 46Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone; for your sons are taken away captive, and your daughters into captivity.
47“Yet I will reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days,” says Yahweh.

Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Commentary

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What others are saying

4 commentators · 108 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17142

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–13

We may observe in these verses, I. The author of Moab's destruction; it is the Lord of hosts, that has armies, all armies, at his command, and the God of Israel (Jer 48:1), who will herein plead the cause of his Israel against a people that have always been…

v. 14–47

The destruction is here further prophesied of very largely and with a great copiousness and variety of expression, and very pathetically and in moving language, designed not only to awaken them by a national repentance and reformation to prevent the trouble…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176347

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... The prophecy concerning Moab is introduced with these epithets of God, partly to observe that the God of Israel was the only true God, in opposition to the gods of Moab, and other nations; and…

v. 2

There shall be no more praise of Moab,.... It shall be no more commended for a rich, populous, and fruitful country, being now laid waste; though the next phrase, in Heshbon, or "concerning Heshbon" (b), should be read in connection with this; and then the…

v. 3

A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim,.... Another city of Moab. The word is of the dual number; and, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, there were two Horons, the upper and the lower; of this place See Gill on Isaiah 15:5; this also should be destroyed…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–187514

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–8

Calamities to come on Moab. - Jer 48:1. "Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel, Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is come to dishonour, it is taken: the fortress is come to dishonour and broken down. Jer 48:2. Moab's glory is no more. In…

v. 9–15

Moab is laid waste, and its inhabitants carried captive. - Jer 48:9. "Give pinions to Moab, for he will flee and get away, and his cities shall become a waste, with no one dwelling in them. Jer 48:10. Cursed is he that doeth the work of Jahveh negligently…

v. 16–17

Moab's glory is departed. - Jer 48:16. "The destruction of Moab is near to come, and his trouble hastens rapidly. Jer 48:17. Bewail him, all [ye who are] round about him, and all who know his name! Say, How the rod of strength is broken, the staff of majesty…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187145

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 2

no more praise-- (Isa 16:14). in Heshbon--The foe having taken Heshbon, the chief city of Moab (Jer 48:45), in it devise evil against Moab ("it") saying, Come," &c. Heshbon was midway between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok; it was the residence of Sihon, king of…

v. 3

Horonaim--the same as the city Avara, mentioned by PTOLEMY. The word means "double caves" (Neh 2:10; Isa 15:5).

v. 4

little ones . . . cry--heightening the distress of the scene. The foe does not spare even infants.

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