Jeremiah 48:43-44

48:43 Terror, pits, and traps ¹  are in store

for the people who live in Moab. ² 

I, the Lord, affirm it! ³ 

48:44 Anyone who flees at the sound of terror

will fall into a pit.

Anyone who climbs out of the pit

will be caught in a trap. ⁴ 

For the time is coming

when I will punish the people of Moab. ⁵ 

I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁶ 

[48:43]  ¹ sn There is an extended use of assonance here and in the parallel passage in Isa 24:17. The Hebrew text reads פַּחַד וָפַחַת וָפָח (pakhad vafakhat vafakh). The assonance is intended to underscore the extensive trouble that is in store for them.

[48:43]  ² tn Heb “are upon you, inhabitant of Moab.” This is another example of the rapid switch in person or direct address (apostrophe) in the midst of a third person description or prediction which the present translation typically keeps in the third person for smoother English style.

[48:43]  ³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[48:44]  ⁴ sn Jer 48:43-44a are in the main the same as Isa 24:17-18 which shows that the judgment was somewhat proverbial. For a very similar kind of argumentation see Amos 5:19; judgment is unavoidable.

[48:44]  ⁵ tn Heb “For I will bring upon her, even upon Moab, the year of her punishment.”

[48:44]  ⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”