Jeremiah 48:38

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! ¹ 

Jeremiah 48:1

Judgment Against Moab

48:1 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²  spoke about Moab. ³ 

“Sure to be judged is Nebo! Indeed, ⁴  it will be destroyed!

Kiriathaim ⁵  will suffer disgrace. It will be captured!

Its fortress ⁶  will suffer disgrace. It will be torn down! ⁷ 

Jeremiah 5:3-5

5:3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. ⁸ 

But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. ⁹ 

Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected.

They have become as hardheaded as a rock. ¹⁰ 

They refuse to change their ways. ¹¹ 

5:4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ¹² 

They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ¹³ 

They do not know what their God requires of them. ¹⁴ 

5:5 I will go to the leaders ¹⁵ 

and speak with them.

Surely they know what the Lord demands. ¹⁶ 

Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ¹⁷ 

Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority

and refuse to submit to him. ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 5:2

5:2 These people make promises in the name of the Lord. ¹⁹ 

But the fact is, ²⁰  what they swear to is really a lie.” ²¹ 

Jeremiah 5:21

5:21 Tell them: ‘Hear this,

you foolish people who have no understanding,

who have eyes but do not discern,

who have ears but do not perceive: ²² 

Psalms 31:12

31:12 I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about; ²³ 

I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar. ²⁴ 

Hosea 8:8

8:8 Israel will be swallowed up among the nations;

they will be like a worthless piece of pottery.

Hosea 13:15

The Capital of the Northern Empire Will Be Destroyed

13:15 Even though he flourishes like a reed plant, ²⁵ 

a scorching east wind will come,

a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert.

As a result, his spring will dry up; ²⁶ 

his well will become dry.

That wind ²⁷  will spoil all his delightful foods

in the containers in his storehouse.

Romans 9:21-23

9:21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay ²⁸  one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use? ²⁹  9:22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects ³⁰  of wrath ³¹  prepared for destruction? ³²  9:23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects ³³  of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory –

Romans 9:2

9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³⁴ 

Romans 2:20-21

2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore ³⁵  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

[48:38]  ¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[48:1]  ² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” For this title see 7:3 and the study note on 2:19.

[48:1]  ³ sn Moab was a country east of the Dead Sea whose boundaries varied greatly over time. Basically, it was the tableland between the Arnon River about halfway up the Dead Sea and the Zered River which is roughly at the southern tip of the Dead Sea. When the Israelites entered Palestine they were forbidden to take any of the Moabite territory but they did capture the kingdom of Sihon north of the Arnon which Sihon had taken from Moab. Several of the towns mentioned in the oracles of judgment against Moab here are in this territory north of the Arnon and were assigned to Reuben and Gad. Several are mentioned on the famous Moabite Stone which details how Mesha king of Moab recovered from Israel many of these cities during the reign of Joram (852-841 b.c.; cf. 2 Kgs 3:4-5). It is usually assumed that Moab submitted to Nebuchadnezzar after the battle of Carchemish and that they remained loyal to him throughout most of this period, though representatives were present at Jerusalem in 594 b.c. when plans for revolt were apparently being discussed (Jer 27:3). Moabite contingents were used by Nebuchadnezzar in 598 b.c. to harass Jehoiakim after he rebelled (2 Kgs 24:2) so they must have remained loyal at that time. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Moab in 582 b.c. and destroyed many of its cities.

[48:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Woe to Nebo for it is destroyed.” For the use of the Hebrew particle “Woe” (הוֹי, hoy) see the translator’s note on 22:13. The translation has taken this form because the phrase “Woe to” probably does not convey the proper meaning or significance to the modern reader. The verbs again are in the tense (Hebrew prophetic perfect) that views the action as if it were as good as done. The particle כִּי (ki) probably is causal but the asseverative works better in the modified translation.

[48:1]  ⁵ sn Nebo and Kiriathaim were both north of the Arnon and were assigned to Reuben (Num 32:3, Josh 13:19). They are both mentioned on the Moabite Stone as having been recovered from Israel.

[48:1]  ⁶ tn Or “Misgab.” The translation here follows the majority of commentaries and English versions. Only REB sees this as a place name, “Misgab,” which is otherwise unknown. The constant use of this word to refer to a fortress, the presence of the article on the front of it, and the lack of any reference to a place of this name anywhere else argues against it being a place name. However, the fact that the verbs that accompany it are feminine while the noun for “fortress” is masculine causes some pause.

[48:1]  ⁷ tn For the meaning of the verb here see BDB 369 s.v. חָתַת Qal.1 and compare usage in Isa 7:8; 30:31.

[5:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “O Lord, are your eyes not to faithfulness?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[5:3]  ⁹ tn Commentaries and lexicons debate the meaning of the verb here. The MT is pointed as though from a verb meaning “to writhe in anguish or contrition” (חוּל [khul]; see, e.g., BDB 297 s.v. חוּל 2.c), but some commentaries and lexicons repoint the text as though from a verb meaning “to be sick,” thus “to feel pain” (חָלָה [khalah]; see, e.g., HALOT 304 s.v. חָלָה 3). The former appears more appropriate to the context.

[5:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “They made their faces as hard as a rock.”

[5:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “to repent”; Heb “to turn back.”

[5:4]  ¹² tn Heb “Surely they are poor.” The translation is intended to make clear the explicit contrasts and qualifications drawn in this verse and the next.

[5:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “people in power”; Heb “the great ones.”

[5:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the way of the Lord.”

[5:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the judgment [or ordinance] of their God.”

[5:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “have broken the yoke and torn off the yoke ropes.” Compare Jer 2:20 and the note there.

[5:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Though they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives.” The idea of “swear on oath” comes from the second line.

[5:2]  ²⁰ tc The translation follows many Hebrew mss and the Syriac version in reading “surely” (אָכֵן, ’akhen) instead of “therefore” (לָכֵן, lakhen) in the MT.

[5:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “they swear falsely.”

[5:21]  ²² tn Heb “they have eyes but they do not see, they have ears but they do not hear.”

[31:12]  ²³ tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.

[31:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.

[13:15]  ²⁵ tc The MT reads בֵּן אַחִים יַפְרִיא (ben ’akhim yafri’, “he flourishes [as] a son of brothers”), which is awkward syntactically and enigmatic contextually. The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions reflect a Vorlage of בֵּין אַחִים יַפְרִיד (ben ’akhim yafrid, “he causes division between brothers”). The BHS editors suggest the MT confused the common term אָח (’akh, “brother”) for the rarer term אָחוּ (’akhu, “marsh plant, reed plant” [Job 8:11] and “reed bed” [Gen 41:2, 18; HALOT 31 s.v. אָחוּ]). This is an Egyptian loanword which is also attested in Ugaritic and Old Aramaic. The original text probably read either כְּאָחוּ מַפְרִיא (kÿ’akhu mafri’, “he flourishes like a reed plant”; comparative כְּ, kaf, + noun אָחוּ, “reed” followed by Hiphil participle masculine singular from פָּרַה, parah, “to flourish”) or בֵּין אָחוּ מַפְרִיא (ben ’akhu mafri’, “he flourishes among the reeds”; preposition בֵּין, ben, “between” followed by masculine singular noun אָחוּ “reed” followed by Hiphil participle masculine singular from פָּרַה). The confusion over אָחוּ (“reed plant”) probably led to secondary scribal errors: (1) faulty word-division of אָחוּ מַפְרִיא to אָחוּם יַפְרִיא, and (2) secondary orthographic confusion of י (yod) and ו (vav) between אָחוּם and resultant אָחִים. For discussion, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:268-69. Several English versions retain the MT: “even though he thrives among his brothers” (NIV), “Though he be fruitful among his brethren” (KJV), “No matter how much you prosper more than the other tribes” (CEV), “Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers (NLT). Others adopt one of the two emendations: (1) “though he flourishes among the reeds” (NEB, NASB, NJPS), and (2) “even though he flourishes like weeds” (TEV), “though he may flourish as the reed plant” (RSV).

[13:15]  ²⁶ tc The MT וְיֵבוֹשׁ (vÿyevosh, “will be ashamed”; vav + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from בּוֹשׁ, bosh, “to be ashamed”) does not fit the context. The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate reflect a Vorlage of וְיוֹבִישׁ (vÿyovish, “will dry up”; vav + Hiphil imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from יָבַשׁ, yavash, “to be dry”; HALOT 384 s.v. יבשׁ 1). This fits well with the parallel וְיֶחֱרַב (vÿyekherav, “will become dry”; vav + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from חָרַב, kharav, “to be dry”). See Isa 42:15; 44:27; Jer 51:36. The variant read by the ancient versions is followed by almost all modern English versions (as well as KJV, ASV).

[13:15]  ²⁷ tn The term “wind” is not repeated in the Hebrew text at this point but is implied; it is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:21]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump.”

[9:21]  ²⁹ tn Grk “one vessel for honor and another for dishonor.”

[9:22]  ³⁰ tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.

[9:22]  ³¹ tn Or “vessels destined for wrath.” The genitive ὀργῆς (orghs) could be taken as a genitive of destination.

[9:22]  ³² tn Or possibly “objects of wrath that have fit themselves for destruction.” The form of the participle could be taken either as a passive or middle (reflexive). ExSyn 417-18 argues strongly for the passive sense (which is followed in the translation), stating that “the middle view has little to commend it.” First, καταρτίζω (katartizw) is nowhere else used in the NT as a direct or reflexive middle (a usage which, in any event, is quite rare in the NT). Second, the lexical force of this verb, coupled with the perfect tense, suggests something of a “done deal” (against some commentaries that see these vessels as ready for destruction yet still able to avert disaster). Third, the potter-clay motif seems to have one point: The potter prepares the clay.

[9:23]  ³³ tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.

[9:2]  ³⁴ tn Grk “my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart is unceasing.”

[2:21]  ³⁵ tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).