Isaiah 15:1

The Lord Will Judge Moab

15:1 Here is a message about Moab:

Indeed, in a night it is devastated,

Ar of Moab is destroyed!

Indeed, in a night it is devastated,

Kir of Moab is destroyed!

Isaiah 16:7

16:7 So Moab wails over its demise ¹  –

they all wail!

Completely devastated, they moan

about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth. ² 

Isaiah 16:13

16:13 This is the message the Lord previously announced about Moab.

Isaiah 15:8

15:8 Indeed, the cries of distress echo throughout Moabite territory;

their wailing can be heard in Eglaim and Beer Elim. ³ 

Isaiah 16:2

16:2 At the fords of the Arnon ⁴ 

the Moabite women are like a bird

that flies about when forced from its nest. ⁵ 

Isaiah 16:6

16:6 We have heard about Moab’s pride,

their great arrogance,

their boasting, pride, and excess. ⁶ 

But their boastful claims are empty! ⁷ 

Isaiah 16:11

16:11 So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, ⁸ 

my inner being sighs ⁹  for Kir Hareseth. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 11:14

11:14 They will swoop down ¹¹  on the Philistine hills to the west; ¹² 

together they will loot the people of the east.

They will take over Edom and Moab, ¹³ 

and the Ammonites will be their subjects.

Isaiah 15:2

15:2 They went up to the temple, ¹⁴ 

the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament. ¹⁵ 

Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba, ¹⁶  Moab wails.

Every head is shaved bare,

every beard is trimmed off. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 15:4

15:4 The people of ¹⁸  Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,

their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.

For this reason Moab’s soldiers shout in distress;

their courage wavers. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 15:9

15:9 Indeed, the waters of Dimon ²⁰  are full of blood!

Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon. ²¹ 

A lion will attack ²²  the Moabite fugitives

and the people left in the land.

Isaiah 16:4

16:4 Please let the Moabite fugitives live ²³  among you.

Hide them ²⁴  from the destroyer!”

Certainly ²⁵  the one who applies pressure will cease, ²⁶ 

the destroyer will come to an end,

those who trample will disappear ²⁷  from the earth.

Isaiah 16:12

16:12 When the Moabites plead with all their might at their high places, ²⁸ 

and enter their temples to pray, their prayers will be ineffective! ²⁹ 

Isaiah 25:10

25:10 For the Lord’s power will make this mountain secure. ³⁰ 

Moab will be trampled down where it stands, ³¹ 

as a heap of straw is trampled down in ³²  a manure pile.

Isaiah 15:5

15:5 My heart cries out because of Moab’s plight, ³³ 

and for the fugitives ³⁴  stretched out ³⁵  as far as Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah.

For they weep as they make their way up the ascent of Luhith;

they loudly lament their demise on the road to Horonaim. ³⁶ 

Isaiah 16:14

16:14 Now the Lord makes this announcement: “Within exactly three years ³⁷  Moab’s splendor will disappear, along with all her many people; there will be just a few, insignificant survivors left.” ³⁸ 

[16:7]  ¹ tn Heb “So Moab wails for Moab.”

[16:7]  ² tn The Hebrew text has, “for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth you [masculine plural] moan, surely destroyed.” The “raisin cakes” could have cultic significance (see Hos 3:1), but the next verse focuses on agricultural disaster, so here the raisin cakes are mentioned as an example of the fine foods that are no longer available (see 2 Sam 6:19; Song 2:5) because the vines have been destroyed by the invader (see v. 8). Some prefer to take אֲשִׁישֵׁי (’ashishe, “raisin cakes of”) as “men of” (see HALOT 95 s.v. *אָשִׁישׁ; cf. NIV). The verb form תֶהְגּוּ (tehgu, “you moan”) is probably the result of dittography (note that the preceding word ends in tav [ת]) and should be emended to הגו (a perfect, third plural form), “they moan.”

[15:8]  ¹ tn Heb “to Eglaim [is] her wailing, and [to] Beer Elim [is] her wailing.”

[16:2]  ¹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[16:2]  ² tn Heb “like a bird fleeing, thrust away [from] a nest, the daughters of Moab are [at] the fords of Arnon.”

[16:6]  ¹ tn עֶבְרָה (’evrah) often means “anger, fury,” but here it appears to refer to boastful outbursts or excessive claims. See HALOT 782 s.v. עֶבְרָה.

[16:6]  ² tn Heb “not so his boasting.”

[16:11]  ¹ tn Heb “so my intestines sigh for Moab like a harp.” The word מֵעַי (me’ay, “intestines”) is used here of the seat of the emotions. English idiom requires the word “heart.” The point of the comparison to a harp is not entirely clear. Perhaps his sighs of mourning resemble a harp in sound, or his constant sighing is like the repetitive strumming of a harp.

[16:11]  ² tn The verb is supplied in the translation; “sighs” in the preceding line does double duty in the parallel structure.

[16:11]  ³ tn Heb “Kir Heres” (so ASV, NRSV, TEV, CEV), a variant name for “Kir Hareseth” (see v. 7).

[11:14]  ¹ tn Heb “fly.” Ephraim/Judah are compared to a bird of prey.

[11:14]  ² tn Heb “on the shoulder of Philistia toward the sea.” This refers to the slopes of the hill country west of Judah. See HALOT 506 s.v. כָּתֵף.

[11:14]  ³ tn Heb “Edom and Moab [will be the place of] the outstretching of their hand,” i.e., included in their area of jurisdiction (see HALOT 648 s.v. ח(וֹ)מִשְׁלֹ).

[15:2]  ¹ tn Heb “house.”

[15:2]  ² tn Heb “even Dibon [to] the high places to weep.” The verb “went up” does double duty in the parallel structure.

[15:2]  ³ tn Heb “over [or “for”] Nebo and over [or “for”] Medeba.”

[15:2]  ⁴ sn Shaving the head and beard were outward signs of mourning and grief.

[15:4]  ¹ tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[15:4]  ² tc The Hebrew text has, “For this reason the soldiers of Moab shout, his inner being quivers for him.” To achieve tighter parallelism, some emend the first line, changing חֲלֻצֵי (khalutse, “soldiers”) to חַלְצֵי (khaltse, “loins”) and יָרִיעוּ (yari’u, “they shout,” from רוּעַ, rua’) to יָרְעוּ (yor’u, “they quiver”), a verb from יָרַע (yara’), which also appears in the next line. One can then translate v. 4b as “For this reason the insides of the Moabites quiver, their whole body shakes” (cf. NAB, NRSV).

[15:9]  ¹ tc The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads “Dibon” instead of “Dimon” in this verse.

[15:9]  ² tn Heb “Indeed I will place on Dimon added things.” Apparently the Lord is speaking.

[15:9]  ³ tn The words “will attack” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[16:4]  ¹ tn That is, “live as resident foreigners.”

[16:4]  ² tn Heb “Be a hiding place for them.”

[16:4]  ³ tn The present translation understands כִּי (ki) as asseverative, but one could take it as explanatory (“for,” KJV, NASB) or temporal (“when,” NAB, NRSV). In the latter case, v. 4b would be logically connected to v. 5.

[16:4]  ⁴ tn A perfect verbal form is used here and in the next two lines for rhetorical effect; the demise of the oppressor(s) is described as if it had already occurred.

[16:4]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text has, “they will be finished, the one who tramples, from the earth.” The plural verb form תַּמּוּ, (tammu, “disappear”) could be emended to agree with the singular subject רֹמֵס (romes, “the one who tramples”) or the participle can be emended to a plural (רֹמֵסִם, romesim) to agree with the verb. The translation assumes the latter. Haplography of mem (ם) seems likely; note that the word after רֹמֵס begins with a mem.

[16:12]  ¹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[16:12]  ² tn Heb “when he appears, when he grows tired, Moab on the high places, and enters his temple to pray, he will not prevail.” It is possible that “when he grows tired” is an explanatory gloss for the preceding “when he appears.”

[25:10]  ¹ tn Heb “for the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain”; TEV “will protect Mount Zion”; NCV “will protect (rest on NLT) Jerusalem.”

[25:10]  ² tn Heb “under him,” i.e., “in his place.”

[25:10]  ³ tc The marginal reading (Qere) is בְּמוֹ (bÿmo, “in”). The consonantal text (Kethib) has בְּמִי (bÿmi, “in the water of”).

[15:5]  ¹ tn Heb “for Moab.” For rhetorical purposes the speaker (the Lord?, see v. 9) plays the role of a mourner.

[15:5]  ² tn The vocalization of the Hebrew text suggests “the bars of her gates,” but the form should be repointed to yield, “her fugitives.” See HALOT 156-57 s.v. בָּרִחַ, and BDB 138 s.v. בָּרִיהַ.

[15:5]  ³ tn The words “are stretched out” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “For the ascent of Luhith, with weeping they go up it; for [on] the road to Horonaim an outcry over shattering they raise up.”

[16:14]  ¹ tn Heb “in three years, like the years of a hired worker.” The three years must be reckoned exactly, just as a hired worker would carefully keep track of the time he had agreed to work for an employer in exchange for a predetermined wage.

[16:14]  ² tn Heb “and the splendor of Moab will be disgraced with all the great multitude, and a small little remnant will not be strong.”