21:28 For fire went out from Heshbon,
a flame from the city of Sihon.
It has consumed Ar of Moab
and the lords 1 of the high places of Arnon.
2:2 So I will set Moab on fire, 2
and it will consume Kerioth’s 3 fortresses.
Moab will perish 4 in the heat of battle 5
amid war cries and the blaring 6 of the ram’s horn. 7
1 tc Some scholars emend to בָּלְעָה (bal’ah), reading “and devoured,” instead of בַּעֲלֵי (ba’aley, “its lords”); cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV. This emendation is closer to the Greek and makes a better parallelism, but the MT makes good sense as it stands.
2 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
3 sn Kerioth was an important Moabite city. See Jer 48:24, 41.
4 tn Or “die” (KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV); NAB “shall meet death.”
5 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.
6 tn Heb “sound” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
7 sn The ram’s horn (used as a trumpet) was blown to signal the approaching battle.