Jeremiah 48:43

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

for the people who live in Moab. ² 

I, the Lord, affirm it! ³ 

Jeremiah 18:22

18:22 Let cries of terror be heard in their houses

when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. ⁴ 

For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me

and have hidden traps for me to step into.

Jeremiah 48:44

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. ⁵ 

For the time is coming

when I will punish the people of Moab. ⁶ 

I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁷ 

[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.”

[18:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “when you bring marauders in against them.” For the use of the noun translated here “bands of raiders to plunder them” see 1 Sam 30:3, 15, 23 and BDB 151 s.v. גְּדוּד 1.

[48:44]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “For I will bring upon her, even upon Moab, the year of her punishment.”

[48:44]  ⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”