48:41 Her towns 1 will be captured.
Her fortresses will be taken.
At that time the soldiers of Moab will be frightened
like a woman in labor. 2
2:2 So I will set Moab on fire, 3
and it will consume Kerioth’s 4 fortresses.
Moab will perish 5 in the heat of battle 6
amid war cries and the blaring 7 of the ram’s horn. 8
1 tn Parallelism argues that the word קְרִיּוֹת (qÿriyyot) be understood as the otherwise unattested feminine plural of the noun קִרְיָה (qiryah, “city”) rather than the place name Kerioth mentioned in v. 24 (cf. HALOT 1065 s.v. קִרְיָה). Both this noun and the parallel term “fortresses” are plural but are found with feminine singular verbs, being treated either as collectives or distributive plurals (cf. GKC 462-63 §145.c or 464 §145.l).
2 tn Heb “The heart of the soldiers of Moab will be like the heart of a woman in labor.”
3 sn The destruction of Moab by fire is an example of a judgment in kind – as the Moabites committed the crime of “burning,” so the
4 sn Kerioth was an important Moabite city. See Jer 48:24, 41.
5 tn Or “die” (KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV); NAB “shall meet death.”
6 tn Or “in the tumult.” This word refers to the harsh confusion of sounds that characterized an ancient battle – a mixture of war cries, shouts, shrieks of pain, clashes of weapons, etc.
7 tn Heb “sound” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
8 sn The ram’s horn (used as a trumpet) was blown to signal the approaching battle.