1

The Mourning of Moab

An oracle concerning Moab:Laid waste in a night, Ar of Moab is silent! Laid waste in a night, Kir of Moab is ruined!

2

The people of Dibon have gone to the high places to weep. Over Nebo and Medeba Moab wails. Every head is shaved, every beard is shorn.

3

In the streets they wear sackcloth, on the rooftops and in the squares; everyone wails, every heart melts in tears.

4

Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their howling is heard as far as Jahaz; the armed men of Moab cry aloud and their hearts are faint.

5

My heart cries out for Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. At the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; on the way to Horonaim Their cries are heart-rending.

6

The watered fields of Nimrim have become a wasteland; the turf is dried up, the grass is withered, the verdure is gone.

7

Now they carry away their possessions, the wealth they have stored up, to the Brook of the Willows.

8

Their cry rings round the border of Moab, resounds as far as Eglaim, reaches as far as Beer-elim.

9

The waters of Dimon flow with blood, but worse is yet in store, for I will bring lions upon Dimon, upon those who escape from Moab, and upon those who survive in the land.

Commentaries

15:1 - 15:9

The Mourning of Moab.

Moab was a people hostile to Israel who had taken the lands of the tribes of Reuben and Gad east of the Dead Sea. During the Syro-Ephraimite war, the king of Moab sought the help of Judah (cf. Is 16:1-4). This lament probably arose from the destruction of Moab caused by the invasion of Tiglath-Pileser III in 735-732 B.C.


Scroll to Top