desert. 7. For because thou trustedst in thy handiwork and thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken, and Chemosh shall go forth to captivity, his priests and his princes together. 8. And the waster shall come to every city, and none of the cities shall escape, and the valley perishes and the plain is made desolate, as Yahveh has said. 9. Give wings to Moab; for she shall go forth with a rush, and her cities shall be desolate, that there shall be no inhabitants therein. 10. Cursed be he who does the work of Yahveh negligently, and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood!

11. Moab has been undisturbed from his youth, and he sat still on his lees, and was not poured from vessel to vessel, and went not into captivity; therefore his taste remained, and his perfume changed not. 12. For this reason, behold, days Juniper-tree, see on xvii. 6. A wretched existence is all they can further enjoy, deprived of all means of help. Ver. 7. On account of carnal trust in its own work and savings, Moab, like Israel (ver. 13) and other nations, will fall a prey to the conqueror.Tey, that which thou producest and manufacturest, cf. ver. 36, пwу. Chemosh, Hebrew (from which Kethib is miswritten), the national god of the Moabites, known to us from the pillar of King Mesha. Instead of 7, Keri 17, as elsewhere always in Jeremiah. Ver. 8. Alongside the towns, in high situations as a rule, appear valley and plain to describe the whole Moabite land. , as in xxxii. 22, refers to former dicta of the prophets, first of Isaiah, who, however, himself had forerunners like Amos. Ver. 9., here only wings, as in Targum, Ps. cxxxix. 9 (cf. fins, Lev. xi. 9): observe the paronomasia with the following Y, to fly away, and Y, to go out. Moab, hitherto quietly brooding in its nest, will reluctantly learn to fly; cf. Isa. xvi. 2. Ver. 10. As to the curse, cf. Judg. v. 23. Moab's destruction is the Lord's work. Woe to him who does it carelessly or leniently. Ver. 11. Moab had remained undisturbed in its dwelling-places from the time it first conquered them in its youthful strength, Deut. ii. 9 f. Hence its self-confidence and godless arrogance, Isa. xvi. 6. This is clothed in the figure of the wine, the noblest product of the land (Isa. xvi. 8 f., and Jer. under ver. 32); this had never been poured out or drawn, and hence preserved its original taste and flavour unweakened; in the present case, of course, no commendation. It hardened itself in its godlessness,

for i, from , Ges. § 72. a. 8; Eng. § 71. Ver. 12.

come, is Yahveh's oracle, that I send him lifters who shall lift him, and empty his vessels and break in pieces his jars. 13. And Moab is ashamed of Chemosh, like as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. 14. How say you: 'We are heroes and men skilled in war"? 15. Moab suffers violence and her cities go up (in smoke), and the choice of his youth go down to the slaughter, is the oracle of the King; Yahveh of hosts is his name. 16. The destruction of Moab is near to happen, and his calamity hastens fast. 17. Bewail him, all his neighbours, and all ye who know his name! Say: "How is the strong sceptre broken in pieces, the staff of dignity!" 18. Descend from (thy) glory, and sit down in the thirsty (place), O inhabitress, daughter of Dibon; for the waster of Moab is come up upon thee, he has destroyed thy fortresses. 19. Stand in the way and look out, inhabitress of Aroer; ask him that flees and her that escapes; say: "What has come to pass?" 20. Moab is put to shame, for she is nys, Kal and Piel, to bend, a vessel for pouring out. Luther: "Schröter, die sie auschroten sollen," vat-men, who shall draw them out. These workmen, whom God sends to the Moabite wine-store, make short work. Because the wine is spoilt by lying too long, they let it run out, and break the earthen jars. The whole image would be the more vivid when Moab's potterymaking was flourishing, which is indicated in many ways (not to speak of the modern imitations of pseudo-Moab!); cf. xiii. 12, 14. Ver. 13. Bethel with its animal figure was the chief sanctuary of the northern kingdom, Amos iii. 14, vii. 13.con with seghol before the tone for pathach. Ver. 15. by, to go up, namely, in flames and smoke, Judg. xx. 40. Antithesis 177, the young warriors are to go down to the plain, where the battle-a slaughter for them-takes place; used even absolutely in this sense, Isa. xxxiv. 7: to go down to the shambles. The king, as in xlvi. 18. Ver. 17. Sceptre of power; the emblem stands for the royal power itself; cf. Ps. cx. 2; Ezek. xix. 11, 12, 14. Ver. 18. Keri, only right reading, cf. Isa. xlvii. 1. The population of Dibon, seated in honour, is to sit down in a waste, thirsty land (y, properly thirst, must NDY). Dibon, an hour north of the Arnon, see Isa. xv. 2. ' nav, see on xlvi. 19. Ver. 19. The news of what has happened penetrates with the fugitives farther south to Aroer (now Arair), not far from Arnon; cf. Isa. xvii. 2. л, Niplial," what has taken place?" Ver. 20., Kethib

=

Y

near.

broken. Howl thou, and cry! Tell ye it at Arnon, that Moab suffers violence, 21. and judginent has come on the land of the plain, upon Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath, 22. and upon Dibon and upon Nebo, and upon Beth Diblathaim, 23. and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth Gamul and upon Beth Meon, 24. and upon Kerioth and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, those far off and those 25. The horn of Moab is cut off and his arm broken, is Yahveh's oracle. 26. Make ye him drunken, for he has acted proudly against Yahveh, and so Moab shall fall into his vomit, and he shall also become a derision. 27. Or was not Israel then a laughing-stock to thee? Or was he caught among thieves, so that as often as thou spokest of him, thou didst shake the head? 28. Forsake the cities and dwell in the rock, ye inhabitants of Moab, and be like the dove,

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fem. sing. in reference to Moab. Ver. 21. Holon, here only, one of the towns of the plain like Jahzah (see Isa. xv. 4) and Mophaath or Mephaath (Josh. xxi. 37). Nebo, as in ver. 1; Dibon, as in ver. 18; Beth Diblathaim, here only and Num. xxxiii. 46: site unknown. Ver. 23. Kiriathaim, as in ver. 1. Beth Gamul, here only: site unknown. Beth Meon Baal Meon or Beth Baal Meon, Num. xxii. 38, Josh. xiii. 17, now Main, not far south-west of Medeba. Ver. 24. Kerioth must also be a proper name (differently ver. 41), but different from Kiriathaim; probably identical with Ar Moab, which does not occur here. Bozrah 73, Deut. iv. 43, Josh. xx. 8, cf. xxi. 36, not to be confounded with the Edomite Bozrah or the town Bostra flourishing afterwards in Hauran; the Moabite Bozrah is not certainly known. Ver. 26. Make ye him drunken, namely, with the wine of God's wrath, xiii. 13, xxv. 15.-PDD, to crash, here to fall with a noise. Ver. 27. As to the repetition of interrogative particle after the interrogative DN (or), cf. Gen. xvii. 17; here with dagesh dirimens. Or, has he not then merited this punishment by his wicked derisive ways? Or, was Israel then caught among thieves, that thou mightest have a right, so respectable to look down on him with pity? A positive sense cannot be proved from ii. 26. Before God certainly Israel stood condemned, but not before Moab, or in comparison with it. 7, Hithpoel like Kal: to shake the head in token of disapproving regret. noun as with infinitive, xxxi. 20. Ver. 28. The wild pigeon often builds a nest in Palestine on cliffs over abysses; here

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with מדי

which makes its nest over the yawning gulf. 29. We have heard of the pride of Moab,—he is very haughty,—his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the lifting up of his heart. 30. I know, is Yahveh's oracle, his fury and the unseemliness of his boasting; they have done unseemliness. 31. On this account I will howl for Moab, and cry out for all Moab; for the prey of Kir Heres they sigh. 32. As I weep for Jazer, I weep for thee, thou vine of Sibmah, because thy tendrils went over from sea to sea, they reached to Jazer, the waster has fallen on thy fruit-harvest and vintage. 33. And joy is swept away, and singing from the fruitful hill and from the land of Moab; and I cause the wine to disappear from the vats; they shall not tread with rejoicing; the rejoicing is no rejoicing! 34. From the cry of Heshbon unto Elealeh, unto Jahaz they raise their voice, from Zoar unto Horonaim, the cow of three

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properly, beyond the opening of the abyss," the ravine being supposed to separate it from the pursuer. Ver. 29 after Isa. xvi. 6. Here begins a close imitation of that oracle. Ver. 30. (see on viii. 6) is, against the accents, to be joined with 2, his babblings (not babblers), Isa. xvi. 6. Ver. 31 after Isa. xvi. 7. The first person refers to the prophet, who has sympathy even for the Moabites and its lovely land. See after Isa. xvi. Kir Heres, see on ver. 1- Kir Hareseth (Isaiah) Kir Moab, now Kerak. Isaiah (xvi. 7) in more original style has (instead of N) respecting the grapecakes of Kir. 55, Ges. § 70a; Eng. § 69. Ver. 32 freely after Isa, xvi. 8 f., taken by many comparatively: more than Jazer weeps. Rather after the original passage, partitive: the way in which J. weeps, or better: as I weep for Jazer. Sibmah, famed for its vines, and Jazer were both not far from Heshbon, see Isa. xvi. 8. As the whole neighbourhood is rich in vineyards, Sibmah is represented as one vine, whose branches travel far. As nothing is known of a sea of Jazer, and only pools are found there, the second is perhaps to be erased as having come into the text by oversight (Hitzig, Graf). ' is then the Dead Sea, on whose shore the vines of Moab stretch. If, on the other hand, the text is correct, Jeremiah limits the meaning of 'to the two pools Sibmah and Jazer. Ver. 33 after Isa. xvi. 10. The conclusion has a somewhat different form: they tread not the winepress: shout (calling); the shout heard (see on xxv. 30) is not a real, joyous one, but a horrid summons to war. Ver. 34 after Isa. xv. 4-6. Elealeh, see there; Jahaz

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years; for even the waters of Nimrim shall become a desolation. 35. And in Moab, is Yahveh's oracle, I make an end of him that climbs the sacrificial height and offers incense to his god.

pieces like a

39. How is

36. Therefore my heart mourns for Moab like flutes, and my heart mourns for the people of Kir Heres like flutes, because that which was left, which they had gotten, is perished. 37. For every head is baldness, and every beard shorn; on all hands are scars, and on all loins sackcloth. 38. On all the roofs of Moab and in all her streets everything is mourning; for I have broken Moab to vessel which is not beloved, is Yahveh's oracle. she broken to pieces-howl ye! How has Moab turned the back-be ashamed of thyself! And Moab is become a laughing-stock and a horror to all his neighbours. 40. For thus says Yahveh: Behold, like an eagle it flies and spreads its wings against Moab! 41. The fortresses are conquered and the towers taken; and the heart of the heroes of Moab became on that day like the heart of a woman in pangs. 42. And Moab is blotted out, so that it is no more a nation,

כן

Jahzah, ver. 21. Horonaim has here the surname: three years' heifer like Zoar, Isa. xv. 5. The waters of Nimrim, see Isa. xv. 6. Ver. 35. Cf. Isa. xvi. 12. by, Hiphil in the sense of Kal. Ver. 36 freely after Isa. xvi. 11, xv. 7. Instead of the guitar, whose tones at the gentlest touch Isaiah applied to the sympathetic tones of his heart-strings at Moab's misfortune, Jeremiah uses the shriller flute usual at funerals, adding the other mourning customs (ver. 37) found also in Isa. xv. 2, see on Jer. xvi. 6.- by, difficult words; according to Isa. xv. 7, by, to be understood like by, Jer. xxix. 28. The relative clause is joined to the const. state, Ges. § 123. a. 2; Eng. § 121. Kimchi, Gramm., would read nn. Ver. 37 (Isa. xv. 2), see on xvi. 6. Ver. 38. A vessel that is not liked, properly, in which one has no pleasure; cf. xxii. 28; cf. also Isa. xv. 3. Ver. 39. Cf. ver. 20; but here and ware best taken as imperatives. Ver. 40 omitted by LXX, because they saw in it a repetition of xlix. 22. The proper subject is not mentioned, as in xxv. 38. The same figure is used of Nebuchadnezzar, Ezek. xvii. 3; Cyrus, Isa. xlvi. 11. Ver. 41. pл, according to the parallel member not proper name as in ver. 24 (without article), but appellative; the predicate to it in the fem. sing., Ges. § 146. 3; Eng. § 143.- as in xlix. 22,