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Texts -- Jeremiah 48:1-44 (NET)

Context
Judgment Against Moab
48:1 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all spoke about Moab . “Sure to be judged is Nebo ! Indeed , it will be destroyed ! Kiriathaim will suffer disgrace . It will be captured ! Its fortress will suffer disgrace . It will be torn down ! 48:2 People will not praise Moab any more . The enemy will capture Heshbon and plot how to destroy Moab, saying, ‘Come , let’s put an end to that nation !’ City of Madmen , you will also be destroyed . A destructive army will march against you. 48:3 Cries of anguish will arise in Horonaim , ‘Oh, the ruin and great destruction !’ 48:4 “Moab will be crushed . Her children will cry out in distress. 48:5 Indeed they will climb the slopes of Luhith , weeping continually as they go . For on the road down to Horonaim they will hear the cries of distress over the destruction . 48:6 They will hear, ‘Run ! Save yourselves ! Even if you must be like a lonely shrub in the desert !’ 48:7 “Moab, you trust in the things you do and in your riches . So you too will be conquered . Your god Chemosh will go into exile along with his priests and his officials . 48:8 The destroyer will come against every town . Not one town will escape . The towns in the valley will be destroyed . The cities on the high plain will be laid waste . I, the Lord , have spoken ! 48:9 Set up a gravestone for Moab , for it will certainly be laid in ruins! Its cities will be laid waste and become uninhabited .” 48:10 A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work ! A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction ! 48:11 “From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed . It has never been taken into exile . Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs , never poured out from one jar to another . They are like wine which tastes like it always did, whose aroma has remained unchanged . 48:12 But the time is coming when I will send men against Moab who will empty it out . They will empty the towns of their people, then will lay those towns in ruins . I, the Lord , affirm it! 48:13 The people of Moab will be disappointed by their god Chemosh . They will be as disappointed as the people of Israel were when they put their trust in the calf god at Bethel . 48:14 How can you men of Moab say , ‘We are heroes , men who are mighty in battle ?’ 48:15 Moab will be destroyed . Its towns will be invaded . Its finest young men will be slaughtered . I, the King , the Lord who rules over all , affirm it! 48:16 Moab’s destruction is at hand . Disaster will come on it quickly . 48:17 Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it, all of you nations that know of its fame . Mourn and say , ‘Alas , its powerful influence has been broken ! Its glory and power have been done away!’ 48:18 Come down from your place of honor ; sit on the dry ground , you who live in Dibon . For the one who will destroy Moab will attack you; he will destroy your fortifications . 48:19 You who live in Aroer , stand by the road and watch . Question the man who is fleeing and the woman who is escaping . Ask them, ‘What has happened ?’ 48:20 They will answer, ‘Moab is disgraced , for it has fallen ! Wail and cry out in mourning! Announce along the Arnon River that Moab has been destroyed .’ 48:21 “Judgment will come on the cities on the high plain : on Holon , Jahzah , and Mephaath , 48:22 on Dibon , Nebo , and Beth Diblathaim , 48:23 on Kiriathaim , Beth Gamul , and Beth Meon , 48:24 on Kerioth and Bozrah . It will come on all the towns of Moab , both far and near . 48:25 Moab’s might will be crushed . Its power will be broken . I, the Lord , affirm it! 48:26 “Moab has vaunted itself against me. So make him drunk with the wine of my wrath until he splashes around in his own vomit , until others treat him as a laughingstock . 48:27 For did not you people of Moab laugh at the people of Israel ? Did you think that they were nothing but thieves, that you shook your head in contempt every time you talked about them? 48:28 Leave your towns , you inhabitants of Moab . Go and live in the cliffs . Be like a dove that makes its nest high on the sides of a ravine . 48:29 I have heard how proud the people of Moab are, I know how haughty they are. I have heard how arrogant , proud , and haughty they are, what a high opinion they have of themselves. 48:30 I , the Lord , affirm that I know how arrogant they are. But their pride is ill-founded . Their boastings will prove to be false . 48:31 So I will weep with sorrow for Moab . I will cry out in sadness for all of Moab . I will moan for the people of Kir Heres . 48:32 I will weep for the grapevines of Sibmah just like the town of Jazer weeps over them. Their branches once spread as far as the Dead Sea . They reached as far as the town of Jazer . The destroyer will ravage her fig, date , and grape crops . 48:33 Joy and gladness will disappear from the fruitful land of Moab . I will stop the flow of wine from the winepresses . No one will stomp on the grapes there and shout for joy. The shouts there will be shouts of soldiers, not the shouts of those making wine. 48:34 Cries of anguish raised from Heshbon and Elealeh will be sounded as far as Jahaz . They will be sounded from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah . For even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up. 48:35 I will put an end in Moab to those who make offerings at her places of worship . I will put an end to those who sacrifice to other gods . I, the Lord , affirm it! 48:36 So my heart moans for Moab like a flute playing a funeral song. Yes, like a flute playing a funeral song, my heart moans for the people of Kir Heres . For the wealth they have gained will perish . 48:37 For all of them will shave their heads in mourning. They will all cut off their beards to show their sorrow. They will all make gashes in their hands . They will all put on sackcloth . 48:38 On all the housetops in Moab and in all its public squares there will be nothing but mourning . For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar . I, the Lord , affirm it! 48:39 Oh, how shattered Moab will be! Oh, how her people will wail ! Oh, how she will turn away in shame ! Moab will become an object of ridicule , a terrifying sight to all the nations that surround her.” 48:40 For the Lord says , “Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings a nation will swoop down on Moab . 48:41 Her towns will be captured . Her fortresses will be taken . At that time the soldiers of Moab will be frightened like a woman in labor . 48:42 Moab will be destroyed and no longer be a nation , because she has vaunted herself against the Lord . 48:43 Terror , pits , and traps are in store for the people who live in Moab . I, the Lord , affirm it! 48:44 Anyone who flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit . Anyone who climbs out of the pit will be caught in a trap . For the time is coming when I will punish the people of Moab . I, the Lord , affirm it!

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

  • War

    [nave] WAR Divine approval of, 2 Sam. 22:35. Civil, Judg. 12:1-6; 20; 2 Sam. 2:12-31; 3:1; 20; 1 Kin. 14:30; 16:21; Isa. 19:2; forbidden, 2 Chr. 11:4; averted, Josh. 22:11-34. Enemy harangued by general of opposing side, 2 Kin. 1...

  • SANBALLAT

    [isbe] SANBALLAT - san-bal'-at (canebhallaT; Greek and Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) Sanaballat; Peshitta, Samballat): Sanballat the Horonite was, if the appellation which follows his name indicates his origin, a Moa...

  • Pride

    [nave] PRIDE. Ex. 18:10, 11; Lev. 26:19; Deut. 8:11-14, 17-20; Judg. 9:14, 15; 1 Sam. 2:3-5; 1 Kin. 20:11; 2 Kin. 14:9, 10 2 Chr. 25:18, 19. Job 11:12; Job 12:2, 3; Job 13:2, 5; Job 15:1-13; Job 18:3, 4; Job 21:31, 32; Job 32:9-13...

  • PALESTINE, 3

    [isbe] PALESTINE, 3 - IV. Palestine in the Poetic Books of the Old Testament. 1. Book of Job: In Job the scene is distinctively Edomite. Uz (Job 1:1; compare Gen 22:21 the English Revised Version; Jer 25:20; Lam 4:21) and Buz (Job ...

  • Moabites

    [nave] MOABITES Descendants of Lot through his son Moab, Gen. 19:37. Called the people of Chemosh, Num. 21:29. The territory E. of Jordan, bounded on the N. by the river Arnon, Num. 21:13; Judg. 11:18. Children of Israel command...

  • Moab

    [ebd] the seed of the father, or, according to others, the desirable land, the eldest son of Lot (Gen. 19:37), of incestuous birth. (2.) Used to denote the people of Moab (Num. 22:3-14; Judg. 3:30; 2 Sam. 8:2; Jer. 48:11, 13). (3....

  • MOABITE STONE

    [isbe] MOABITE STONE - A monument erected at Dibon (Dhiban) by Mesha, king of Moab (2 Ki 3:4,5), to commemorate his successful revolt from Israel and his conquest of Israelite territory. It was discovered, August 19, 1868, by a Ger...

  • MOAB; MOABITES

    [isbe] MOAB; MOABITES - mo'-ab, mo'-ab-its (Moab, mo'abh, Moabite Stone, M-'-B; Greek (Septuagint) Moab, he Moabeitis, Moabitis; Moabite, mo'abhi; Moabites, bene mo'abh): 1. The Land: Moab was the district East of the Dead Sea, ext...

  • LAUGHING-STOCK

    [isbe] LAUGHING-STOCK - laf'-ing-stok: Something set up to be laughed at; thrice in the Revised Version (British and American) the translation of sechoq, "laughter," etc. (Job 12:4 twice; Jer 20:7; compare Jer 48:26,27,39; Lam 3:14...

  • Kirjathaim

    [ebd] two cities; a double city. (1.) A city of refuge in Naphtali (1 Chr. 6:76). (2.) A town on the east of Jordan (Gen. 14:5; Deut. 2:9, 10). It was assigned to the tribe of Reuben (Num. 32:37). In the time of Ezekiel (25:9) it ...
    [nave] KIRJATHAIM, 1. Called also Kiriathaim. A city of Reuben, Num. 32:37; Josh. 13:19. Prophecies concerning, Jer. 48:1, 23; Ezek. 25:9. 2. A Levitical city in Naphtali, 1 Chr. 6:76.

  • Kir-haraseth

    [ebd] built fortress, a city and fortress of Moab, the modern Kerak, a small town on the brow of a steep hill about 6 miles from Rabbath-Moab and 10 miles from the Dead Sea; called also Kir-haresh, Kir-hareseth, Kir-heres (Isa. 16...
    [nave] KIR-HARASETH, called also Kirharesh, Kir-hareseth, and Kir-heres. A city of Moab, 2 Kin. 3:25; Isa. 16:7, 11; Jer. 48:31, 36. Called Kir of Moab, Isa. 15:1.

  • KIRHARASETH

    [smith] (brick fortress), (2 Kings 3:25) Kir-ha?resh, (Isaiah 16:11) Kir-har?es, (Jeremiah 48:31,36) These four names are all applied to one place, probably KIR OF MOAB OF MOAB, which see.

  • JIRJATHAIM

    [smith] (the two cities). On the east of the Jordan, one of the places which were taken possession of and rebuilt by the Reubenites, and had fresh names conferred on them, (Numbers 32:37) and see (Numbers 32:38) the first and last o...

  • Idolatry

    [nave] IDOLATRY. Wicked Practices of Human sacrifices, Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut. 12:31; 18:10; 2 Kin. 3:26, 27; 16:3; 17:17, 18; 21:6; 23:10; 2 Chr. 28:3; 33:6; Psa. 106:37, 38; Isa. 57:5; Jer. 7:31; 19:4-7; 32:35; Ezek. 16:20, 2...

  • Horonaim

    [ebd] two caverns, a city of Moab to the south of the Arnon, built, apparently, upon an eminence, and a place of some importance (Isa. 15:5; Jer. 48:3, 5, 34).
    [isbe] HORONAIM - hor-o-na'-im (~choronayim]; Aronieim; in Jeremiah Oronaim, "the two hollows"): an unidentified place in the South of Moab. It is named in Jer 48:5. Isaiah (15:5) and Jeremiah (48:3) speak of "the way to Horanaim";...
    [smith] (two caverns), a town of Moab, possibly a sanctuary, named with Zoar and Luhith. (Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:3,5,34)
    [nave] HORONAIM, a town of Moab, Isa. 15:5; Jer. 48:3, 5, 34.

  • Heshbon

    [ebd] intelligence, a city ruled over by Sihon, king of the Amorites (Josh. 3:10; 13:17). It was taken by Moses (Num. 21:23-26), and became afterwards a Levitical city (Josh. 21:39) in the tribe of Reuben (Num. 32:37). After the E...
    [isbe] HESHBON - hesh'-bon (cheshbon; Hesebon): The royal city of Sihon king of the Amorites, taken and occupied by the Israelites under Moses (Nu 21:25 f, etc.). It lay on the southern border of Gad (Josh 13:26), and was one of th...
    [nave] HESHBON A city of the Amorites, Num. 21:25-35; Deut. 1:4. Built by Reuben, Num. 32:37. Allotted to Gad, Josh. 21:38, 39. Fish-pools at, Song 7:4. Prophecy concerning, Isa. 16:8; Jer. 48:2, 34, 35; 49:1-3.

  • Ezekiel, Book of

    [ebd] consists mainly of three groups of prophecies. After an account of his call to the prophetical office (1-3:21), Ezekiel (1) utters words of denunciation against the Jews (3:22-24), warning them of the certain destruction of ...

  • Diblathaim

    [ebd] two cakes, a city of Moab, on the east of the Dead Sea (Num. 33:46; Jer. 48:22).

  • Cutting

    [ebd] the flesh in various ways was an idolatrous practice, a part of idol-worship (Deut. 14:1; 1 Kings 18:28). The Israelites were commanded not to imitate this practice (Lev. 19:28; 21:5; Deut. 14:1). The tearing of the flesh fr...

  • ASTRONOMY, I

    [isbe] ASTRONOMY, I - as-tron'-omi: I. THE HEAVENLY BODIES 1. The Ordinances of Heaven 2. The Sun (1) The Names for the Sun (2) The "City of the Sun" (3) The Greater Light-Giver (4) The Purpose of the Sun (5) The Sun as a Type 3. T...

Arts

Questions

  • They were the descendants of Lot and were neighbors of the Amorites on the opposite side of the River Arnon (Num. 21:13). They were governed by kings and possessed many great cities (Num. 21:28-30; Is. 15:1; Num. 23:7). They ...

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Another instance of incomplete obedience followed the great victory God gave His people and the military commanders' sacrificial, voluntary worship of Yahweh.32:1-19 Maybe the leaders of Reuben and Gad concluded that their br...
  • Often warring armies in the ancient Near East carried images of their gods into battle to help secure victory (cf. 2 Sam. 5:21; 1 Chron. 14:12). When one army defeated the other the victors would take the images of their defe...
  • Baxter, J. Sidlow. Explore the Book. 6 vols. London: Marshall, Morgan, and Scott, 1965.Bromiley, Geoffrey W. God and Marriage. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980.Bullock, C. Hassell. An Introduction to the Poe...
  • The recurrence of the Hebrew word massa', translated "oracle"or "burden,"prescribes the boundaries of this section of text.140These chapters present the nations over which Immanuel is ruler, and they expand the idea of God's ...
  • This section of Isaiah on "The Lord's redemption of His servant [Israel]"(44:23-47:15) has included an announcement of redemption (44:23-28), the identification of the instrument of redemption, Cyrus (45:1-13), and a reminder...
  • Jeremiah's purpose was to call his hearers to repentance in view of God's judgment on Judah, which would come soon from an army from the north (chs. 2-45). Judgment was coming because God's people had forsaken Yahweh and had ...
  • The Book of Jeremiah is not theologically organized in the sense that it develops a certain theological emphasis as it unfolds, as Isaiah does. Rather it presents certain theological truths in greater or lesser degree through...
  • I. Introduction ch. 1A. The introduction of Jeremiah 1:1-3B. The call of Jeremiah 1:4-191. The promise of divine enablement 1:4-102. Two confirming visions 1:11-19II. Prophecies about Judah chs. 2-45A. Warnings of judgment on...
  • 1:4 The prophet now began speaking to his readers and telling them what the Lord had said to him. Throughout this book, an indication that the Lord had told Jeremiah something is often the sign of a new pericope, as here (cf....
  • The first series of prophetic announcements, reflections, and incidents that comprise this part of the book deals with Jeremiah's ministry to his own people.64The second main division of the book contains oracles against fore...
  • This prophecy about Israel's neighbors anticipates chapters 46-51, which contain oracles against Gentile nations.12:14 The Lord promised to judge Judah's neighbor nations that had robbed His people of what the Lord had given ...
  • 41:4-5 Two days after Gedaliah's murder, before the news of it had spread, 80 religious pilgrims came down from the old towns of Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria in northern Israel on their way to Jerusalem. Their dress and other...
  • In Jeremiah, prophecies concerning foreign nations come at the end of the book. In the other major prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel, they come after oracles against Israel and or Judah and before oracles dealing with Israel's res...
  • This chapter on Egypt contains three separate prophecies that Jeremiah delivered about the fate of that nation. Their purpose seems to have been to discourage King Jehoiakim (609-598 B.C.) and the pro-Egyptian party in Judah ...
  • It is not possible to date this oracle exactly, but Jeremiah evidently gave it sometime during Josiah's reign (640-609 B.C.; v. 1).47:1 Jeremiah received a message from the Lord concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh conqu...
  • This oracle is similar to the one in Isaiah 15 and 16.555Other oracles against Moab appear in Ezekiel 25:8-11, Amos 2:1-3, and Zephaniah 2:9, but this is the longest one. It is very difficult to say when Jeremiah gave this or...
  • The Ammonites lived north of the Moabites, north of the Arnon River for most of their history, and east of the tribal territories of Gad and Reuben. However, the Ammonites had taken over some Israelite territory in Transjorda...
  • The Edomites lived to the southeast of Judah, south of Moab. The Zered River was their northern border, the Gulf of Aqabah (about 100 miles to the south) the southern, the Arabah the western, and the desert the eastern border...
  • Elam was the land of the Elamites who lived in Mesopotamia somewhat east of the Babylonians (in modern southwest Iran). We know little about the history of the Elamites, and their inclusion in a collection of judgments agains...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers; and New York: Macmillan Publishers Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell. The Archaeology of Palestine. Revis...
  • Ezekiel was also to do something else during the time he was dramatizing the siege of Jerusalem with his model (ch. 4)."After Ezekiel represented the factof the siege (first sign [4:1-3]), the lengthof the siege (second sign ...
  • 17:11-12 Ezekiel was now to tell his rebellious hearers what this story represented.250The first eagle stood for the king of Babylon (cf. Jer. 48:40; 49:22; Dan. 7:4). His invasion of Jerusalem (the specific identity of the L...
  • It is appropriate that this section appears at this point in Ezekiel, between the messages announcing judgment on Judah and Jerusalem for sin (chs. 4-24) and the messages announcing future blessings for Israel (chs. 33-48). I...
  • This chapter ties in very closely with the preceding one. Evidently all the messages in these two chapters date from the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem (24:1-2). Even though this chapter begins a series of mes...
  • 25:8 The residents of Moab and Seir (Edom) had regarded Judah as just one of the other nations even though the Judahites were blood relatives of theirs (cf. Jer. 48:27; Zeph. 2:8-9). This attitude reflected disrespect for Yah...
  • 29:17 Ezekiel received another message from the Lord about Egypt's judgment in 571 B.C. (on his New Year's day). This was probably the second to the last recorded prophecy of Ezekiel, and the prophet would have been about 50 ...
  • 8:2 Evidently Daniel was in Babylon when he had this vision, but what he saw, including himself, was in Susa (Shushan, AV; cf. Ezek. 8:3; 40:1).293Daniel probably knew where he was in his vision because he had visited Susa. I...
  • 8:8 The prophet looked ahead to the time of Israel's judgment. The nation would be swallowed up, as when someone eats grain (v. 7). Israel would become a part of the nations having gone into captivity and lost its own soverei...
  • An oracle is a message of judgment. Amos proceeded to deliver eight of these, seven against Israel's neighbors including Judah (1:3-2:5) and one against Israel (2:6-6:14).12The order is significant. The nations mentioned firs...
  • Yahweh promised not to revoke His punishment of Moab, another nation descended from Lot (cf. Gen. 19:30-38), because of its brutal treatment of an Edomite king's corpse (cf. 2 Kings 3:26-27). Burning the bones of a dead perso...
  • 2:8 Probably Zephaniah linked Moab and Ammon because both nations descended from Lot (Gen. 19:30-38) as well as because both lay to Judah's east. Both nations had taunted and reviled the Israelites from their earliest history...
  • 7:1 Another prophetic message came to Zechariah from the Lord in 518 B.C. The fourth day of the ninth month would have been in early December. Chislev is the Babylonian name of the month. This message, which comprises the fol...
  • 13:1 In that day God would open a fountain for the complete spiritual cleansing of the Israelites, both for their moral sins and for their ritual uncleanness (cf. Ezek. 47). The figure of a fountain pictures abundant cleansin...
  • This lamentation should help us realize that the judgment Jesus just announced in such strong language was not something that delighted Him. It broke His heart. This is also clear from His personalizing the people in Jerusale...
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