Isaiah 15:1-6

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!

15:2 They went up to the temple, ¹ 

the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament. ² 

Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba, ³  Moab wails.

Every head is shaved bare,

every beard is trimmed off. ⁴ 

15:3 In their streets they wear sackcloth;

on their roofs and in their town squares

all of them wail,

they fall down weeping.

15:4 The people of ⁵  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. ⁶ 

15:5 My heart cries out because of Moab’s plight, ⁷ 

and for the fugitives ⁸  stretched out ⁹  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. ¹⁰ 

15:6 For the waters of Nimrim are gone; ¹¹ 

the grass is dried up,

the vegetation has disappeared,

and there are no plants.

[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]  ⁵ tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[15:4]  ⁶ 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).

[15:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “for Moab.” For rhetorical purposes the speaker (the Lord?, see v. 9) plays the role of a mourner.

[15:5]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn The words “are stretched out” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:5]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[15:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “are waste places”; cf. NRSV “are a desolation.”