3“The sound of an outcry from Horonaim,
         ‘Devastation and great destruction!’

4“Moab is broken,
         Her little ones have sounded out a cry of distress.

5“For by the ascent of Luhith
         They will ascend with continual weeping;
         For at the descent of Horonaim
         They have heard the anguished cry of destruction.

6“Flee, save your lives,
         That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

7“For because of your trust in your own achievements and treasures,
         Even you yourself will be captured;
         And Chemosh will go off into exile
         Together with his priests and his princes.

8“A destroyer will come to every city,
         So that no city will escape;
         The valley also will be ruined
         And the plateau will be destroyed,
         As the LORD has said.

9“Give wings to Moab,
         For she will flee away;
         And her cities will become a desolation,
         Without inhabitants in them.

10“Cursed be the one who does the LORD’S work negligently,
         And cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood.

11“Moab has been at ease since his youth;
         He has also been undisturbed, like wine on its dregs,
         And he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
         Nor has he gone into exile.
         Therefore he retains his flavor,
         And his aroma has not changed.

12“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will send to him those who tip vessels, and they will tip him over, and they will empty his vessels and shatter his jars. 13“And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

14“How can you say, ‘We are mighty warriors,
         And men valiant for battle’?

15“Moab has been destroyed and men have gone up to his cities;
         His choicest young men have also gone down to the slaughter,”
         Declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

16“The disaster of Moab will soon come,
         And his calamity has swiftly hastened.

17“Mourn for him, all you who live around him,
         Even all of you who know his name;
         Say, ‘How has the mighty scepter been broken,
         A staff of splendor!’

18“Come down from your glory
         And sit on the parched ground,
         O daughter dwelling in Dibon,
         For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,
         He has ruined your strongholds.

19“Stand by the road and keep watch,
         O inhabitant of Aroer;
         Ask him who flees and her who escapes
         And say, ‘What has happened?’

20“Moab has been put to shame, for it has been shattered.
         Wail and cry out;
         Declare by the Arnon
         That Moab has been destroyed.

      21“Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, Jahzah and against Mephaath, 22against Dibon, Nebo and Beth-diblathaim, 23against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul and Beth-meon, 24against Kerioth, Bozrah and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. 25“The horn of Moab has been cut off and his arm broken,” declares the LORD. 26“Make him drunk, for he has become arrogant toward the LORD; so Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock. 27“Now was not Israel a laughingstock to you? Or was he caught among thieves? For each time you speak about him you shake your head in scorn.

28“Leave the cities and dwell among the crags,
         O inhabitants of Moab,
         And be like a dove that nests
         Beyond the mouth of the chasm.

29“We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud—
         Of his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance and his self-exaltation.

30“I know his fury,” declares the LORD,
         “But it is futile;
         His idle boasts have accomplished nothing.

31“Therefore I will wail for Moab,
         Even for all Moab will I cry out;
         I will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

32“More than the weeping for Jazer
         I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah!
         Your tendrils stretched across the sea,
         They reached to the sea of Jazer;
         Upon your summer fruits and your grape harvest
         The destroyer has fallen.

33“So gladness and joy are taken away
         From the fruitful field, even from the land of Moab.
         And I have made the wine to cease from the wine presses;
         No one will tread them with shouting,
         The shouting will not be shouts of joy.

34“From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have raised their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate. 35“I will make an end of Moab,” declares the LORD, “the one who offers sacrifice on the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods.

      36“Therefore My heart wails for Moab like flutes; My heart also wails like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have lost the abundance it produced. 37“For every head is bald and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands and sackcloth on the loins. 38“On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable vessel,” declares the LORD. 39“How shattered it is! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back—he is ashamed! So Moab will become a laughingstock and an object of terror to all around him.”

      40For thus says the LORD:
         “Behold, one will fly swiftly like an eagle
         And spread out his wings against Moab.

41“Kerioth has been captured
         And the strongholds have been seized,
         So the hearts of the mighty men of Moab in that day
         Will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

42“Moab will be destroyed from being a people
         Because he has become arrogant toward the LORD.

43“Terror, pit and snare are coming upon you,
         O inhabitant of Moab,” declares the LORD.

44“The one who flees from the terror
         Will fall into the pit,
         And the one who climbs up out of the pit
         Will be caught in the snare;
         For I shall bring upon her, even upon Moab,
         The year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.

45“In the shadow of Heshbon
         The fugitives stand without strength;
         For a fire has gone forth from Heshbon
         And a flame from the midst of Sihon,
         And it has devoured the forehead of Moab
         And the scalps of the riotous revelers.

46“Woe to you, Moab!
         The people of Chemosh have perished;
         For your sons have been taken away captive
         And your daughters into captivity.

47“Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
         In the latter days,” declares the LORD.
      Thus far the judgment on Moab.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"There is praise for Moab no longer; In Heshbon they have devised calamity against her: 'Come and let us cut her off from being a nation!' You too, Madmen, will be silenced; The sword will follow after you.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
People will no longer praise Moab. The people in Heshbon will plan Moab's destruction. "Let's destroy that nation!" You will be silenced, city of Madmen. Death will come after you.

King James Bible
There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.

Douay-Rheims Bible
There is no more rejoicing in Moab over Hesebon: they have devised evil. Come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Therefore shalt thou in silence hold thy peace, and the sword shall follow thee.

Darby Bible Translation
Moab's praise is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. Thou also, O Madmen, shalt be cut down; the sword shall pursue thee.

English Revised Version
The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her, Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. Thou also, O Madmen, shalt be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue thee.

Webster's Bible Translation
There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.

World English Bible
The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, Madmen, shall be brought to silence: the sword shall pursue you.

Young's Literal Translation
There is no more praise of Moab, In Heshbon they devised against it evil: Come, and we cut it off from being a nation, Also, O Madmen, thou art cut off, After thee goeth a sword.

Cross References

Numbers 21:25 Israel took all these cities and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her villages.

Psalm 83:4 They have said, "Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered no more."

Jeremiah 48:34 "From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have raised their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate.

Jeremiah 48:42 "Moab will be destroyed from being a people Because he has become arrogant toward the LORD.

Jeremiah 48:45 "In the shadow of Heshbon The fugitives stand without strength; For a fire has gone forth from Heshbon And a flame from the midst of Sihon, And it has devoured the forehead of Moab And the scalps of the riotous revelers.

Jeremiah 49:3 "Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament, And rush back and forth inside the walls; For Malcam will go into exile Together with his priests and his princes.

Jeremiah 49:37 'So I will shatter Elam before their enemies And before those who seek their lives; And I will bring calamity upon them, Even My fierce anger,' declares the LORD, 'And I will send out the sword after them Until I have consumed them.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Chapter 48

Moab is next set to the bar before Jeremiah the prophet, whom God has constituted judge over nations and kingdoms, from his mouth to receive its doom. Isaiah's predictions concerning Moab had had their accomplishment (we had the predictions Isa. 15 and 16 and the like Amos 2:1), and they were fulfilled when the Assyrians, under Salmanassar, invaded and distressed Moab. But this is a prophecy of the desolations of Moab by the Chaldeans, which were accomplished under Nebuzaradan, about five years after he had destroyed Jerusalem. Here is, I. The destruction foretold, that it should be great and general, should extend itself to all parts of the country (v. 1-6, 8, and again v. 21-25, 34), that spoilers should come upon them and force some to flee (v. 9), should carry many into captivity (v. 12, 46), that the enemy should come shortly (v. 16), come swiftly and surprise them (v. 40, 41), that he should make thorough work (v. 10) and lay the country quite waste, though it was very strong (v. 14, 15), that there should be no escaping (v. 42, 45), that this should force them to quit their idols (v. 13, 35) and put an end to all their joy (v. 33, 34), that their neighbours shall lament them (v. 17-19) and the prophet himself does (v. 31, 36, etc.). II. The causes of this destruction assigned; it was sin that brought this ruin upon them, their pride, and security, and carnal confidence (v. 7, 11, 14, 29), and their contempt of and enmity to God and his people (v. 26, 27, 30). III. A promise of the restoration of Moab (v. 48).

Verses 1-13

We may observe in these verses,

I. The author of Moab's destruction; it is the Lord of hosts, that has armies, all armies, at his command, and the God of Israel (v. 1), who will herein plead the cause of his Israel against a people that have always been vexatious to them, and will punish them now for the injuries done to Israel of old, though Israel was forbidden to meddle with them (Deu. 2:9), therefore the destruction of Moab is called the work of the Lord (v. 10), for it is he that pleads for Israel; and his work will exactly agree with his word, v. 8.

II. The instruments of it: Spoilers shall come (v. 8), shall come with a sword, a sword that shall pursue them, v. 2. "I will send unto him wanderers, such as come from afar, as if they were vagrants, or had missed their way, but they shall cause him to wander; they seem as wanderers themselves, but they shall make the Moabites to be really wanderers, some to flee and others to be carried into captivity." These destroyers stir up themselves to do execution; they have devised evil against Heshbon, one of the principal cities of Moab, and they aim at no less than the ruin of the kingdom: Come, and let us cut it off from being a nation (v. 2); nothing less will serve the turn of the invaders; they come, not to plunder it, but to ruin it. The prophet, in God's name, engages them to make thorough work of it (v. 10): Cursed be he that does the work of the Lord deceitfully, this bloody work, this destroying work; though it goes against the grain with men of compassion, yet it is the work of the Lord, and must not be done by the halves. The Chaldeans have it in charge, by a secret instinct (says Mr. Gataker), to destroy the Moabites, and therefore they must not spare, must not, out of foolish pity, keep back their sword from blood; they would thereby bring a sword, and a curse with it, upon themselves, as Saul did by sparing the Amalekites and Ahab by letting Benhadad go. Thy life shall go for his life. To this work is applied that general rule given to all that are employed in any service for God, Cursed by he that does the work of the Lord deceitfully or negligently, that pretends to do it, but does it not to purpose, makes a show of serving God's glory, but is really serving his own ends and carries on the work of the Lord no further than will suit his own purposes, or that is slothful in business for God and takes neither care nor pains to do it as it should be done, Mal. 1:14. Let not such deceive themselves, for God will not thus be mocked.

III. The woeful instances and effects of this destruction. The cities shall be laid in ruins; they shall be spoiled (v. 1) and cut down (v. 2); they shall be desolate (v. 9), without any to dwell therein; there shall be no houses to dwell in, or no people to dwell in them, or no safety and ease to those that would dwell in them. Every city shall be spoiled and no city shall escape. The strongest city shall not be able to secure itself against the enemies' power, nor shall the finest city be able to recommend itself to the enemies' pity and favour. The country also shall be wasted, the valley shall perish, and the plain be destroyed, v. 8. The corn and the flocks, which used to cover the plains and make the valleys rejoice, shall all be destroyed, eaten up, trodden down, or carried off. The most sacred persons shall not escape: The priests and princes shall go together into captivity. Nay, Chemosh, the god they worship, who, they hope, will protect them, shall share with them in the ruin; his temples shall be laid in ashes and his image carried away with the rest of the spoil. Now the consequence of all this will be, 1. Great shame and confusion: Kirjathaim is confounded, and Misgah is so. They shall be ashamed of the mighty boasts they have sometimes made of their cities: There shall be no more vaunting in Moab concerning Heshbon (so it might be read, v. 2); they shall no more boast of the strength of that city when the evil which is designed against it is brought upon it. Nor shall they any more boast of their gods (v. 13); they shall be ashamed of Chemosh (ashamed of all the prayers they have made to and all the confidence they put in that dunghill deity), as Israel was ashamed of Beth-el, of the golden calf they had at Beth-el, which they confided in as their protector, but were deceived in, for it was not able to save them from the Assyrians; nor shall Chemosh be able to save the Moabites from the Chaldeans. Note, Those that will not be convinced and made ashamed of the folly of their idolatry by the word of God shall be convinced and made ashamed of it by the judgments of God, when they shall find by woeful experience the utter inability of the gods they have served to do them any service. 2. There will be great sorrow; there is a voice of crying heard (v. 3) and the cry is nothing but spoiling and great destruction. Alas! alas! Moab is destroyed, v. 4. The great ones having quitted the cities to shift for their own safety, even the little ones have caused a cry to be heard, the meaner sort of people, or the little children, the innocent harmless ones, whose cries at such a time are the most piteous. Go up to the hills, go down to the valleys, and you meet with continual weeping (weeping with weeping); all are in tears; you meet none with dry eyes. Even the enemies have heard the cry, from whom it would have been policy to conceal it, for they will be animated and encouraged by it; but it is so great that it cannot be hid, 3. There will be great hurry; they will cry to one another, "Away, away! flee; save your lives (v. 6); shift for your own safety with all imaginable speed, though you escape as bare and naked as the heath, or grig, or dry shrub, in the wilderness; think not of carrying away any thing you have, for it may cost you your life to attempt it, Mt. 24:16-18. Take shelter, though it be in a barren wilderness, that you may have your lives for a prey. The danger will come suddenly and swiftly; and therefore give wings unto Moab (v. 9); that would be the greatest kindness you could do them; that is what they will call for, O that we had wings like a dove! for unless they have wings, and can fly, there will be no escaping."

IV. The sins for which God will now reckon with Moab, and which justify God in these severe proceedings against them. 1. It is because they have been secure, and have trusted in their wealth and strength, in their works and in their treasures, v. 7. They had taken a great deal of pains to fortify their cities and make large works about them, and to fill their exchequer and private coffers, so that they thought themselves in as good a posture for war as any people could be and that none durst invade them, and therefore set danger at defiance. They trusted in the abundance of their riches and strengthened themselves in their wickedness, Ps. 52:7. Now, for this reason, that they may have a sensible conviction of the vanity and folly of their carnal confidences, God will send an enemy that will master their works and rifle their treasures. Note, We forfeit the comfort of that creature which we repose that confidence in which should be reposed in God only. The reed will break that is leaned upon. 2. It is because they have not made a right improvement of the days of the peace and prosperity, v. 11. (1.) They had been long undisturbed: Moab has been at ease from his youth. It was an ancient kingdom before Israel was, and had enjoyed great tranquillity, though a small country and surrounded with potent neighbours. God's Israel were afflicted from their youth (Ps. 129:1, 2), but Moab at ease from his youth. He has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, has not known any troublesome weakening changes, but is as wine kept on the lees, and not racked or drawn off, by which it retains its strength and body. He has not been unsettled, nor any way made uneasy; he has not gone into captivity, as Israel have often done, and yet Moab is a wicked idolatrous nation, and one of the confederates against God's hidden ones, Ps. 83:3, 6. Note, There are many that persist in unrepented iniquity and yet enjoy uninterrupted prosperity. (2.) They had been as long corrupt and unreformed: He has settled on his lees; he has been secure and sensual in his prosperity, has rested in it, and fetched all the strength and life of the soul from it, as the wine from the lees. His taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed; he is still the same, as bad as ever he was. Note, While bad people are as happy as they used to be in the world it is no marvel if they are bad as they used to be. They have no changes of their peace and prosperity, therefore fear not God, their hearts and lives are unchanged, Ps. 55:19.

Calvin's Commentary

2 There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.

2. Nulla amplius gloriatio Moab in Chesbon; cogitaverunt super eam malum, Venite et excidamus eam, ne sit gens; etiam Madmen, (alloquitur urbem ipsam,) excisa es (ad verbum, in solitudinem redacta, sed metaphorice accipitur pro interitu, interiit ergo Madmen;) post to proficiscetur gladius.

The Prophet, as before, does not speak in an ordinary way, but declares in lofty terms what God had committed to him, in order that he might terrify the Moabites; not indeed that they heard his threatenings, but it was necessary that he should denounce vengeance in this vehement manner, that the Jews might know that the cruelty and pride of the Moabites, hereafter mentioned, would not go unpunished.

Hence he says, No more shall be the praise or the boasting of Moab over Heshbon We may learn from this place and from others, that Heshbon had been taken from the Moabites; for it was occupied by God's people, because the Moabites had lost it, as Moses relates in Numbers 21:30, and in Deuteronomy 2:26, etc. But (as things change) when the Moabites became strong, they took away this city from the Israelites. Hence the Prophet says, that there would be no more boasting that they possessed that city; for he adds, They have thought, or devised, etc. There is here a striking allusion, for chsvvn, chesbon, is derived from chsv, chesheb, to devise or to consult, as though it were a place of consultation or devisings. The Prophet then says, that as to Heshbon they consulted against it, chsvv lyh cheshbu olie He uses the root from which the name of the city is derived. Heshbon, then, hitherto called the place of consultation, was to have and find other counselors, even those who would contrive ruin for it. Come ye; the Prophet refers here to the counsel taken by the Chaldeans, Come ye, and let us cut her off from being a nation He then joins another city, And thou, Madmen, [4] shalt be cut off, for a sword shall go after thee, or pursue thee, as though the city itself was fleeing from the sword; not that cities move from one place to another; but when the citizens deliberate how they may drive away their enemies and resist their attacks, -- when they seek aid here and there, -- when they set up their own remedies, they are said to flee. But the Prophet says, "Thou shalt gain nothing by fleeing, for the sword shall pursue thee." It follows, --

Footnotes:

[4] None of the versions renders this a proper name, but as a participle from the verb which follows, and no such place is mentioned elsewhere. They must have read mrmh, instead of mdmn. Then the version would be, Even silenced thou shalt be silenced, After thee shall go the sword. To be silenced, in the language of the prophets, is to be subdued. See Isaiah 15:1, when the same thing is said of Moab. The word silence forms a contrast with the boasting of Moab mentioned at the beginning of the verse. After being subdued and removed elsewhere, still the sword would follow Moab. -- Ed.

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How those are to be Admonished who Decline the Office of Preaching Out of Too Great Humility, and those who Seize on it with Precipitate Haste.
(Admonition 26.) Differently to be admonished are those who, though able to preach worthily, are afraid by reason of excessive humility, and those whom imperfection or age forbids to preach, and yet precipitancy impells. For those who, though able to preach with profit, still shrink back through excessive humility are to be admonished to gather from consideration of a lesser matter how faulty they are in a greater one. For, if they were to hide from their indigent neighbours money which they possessed …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Balaam's Prophecy. (Numb. xxiv. 17-19. )
Carried by the Spirit into the far distant future, Balaam sees here how a star goeth out of Jacob and a sceptre riseth out of Israel, and how this sceptre smiteth Moab, by whose enmity the Seer had been brought from a distant region for the destruction of Israel. And not Moab only shall be smitten, but its southern neighbour, Edom, too shall be subdued, whose hatred against Israel had already been prefigured in its ancestor, and had now begun to display Itself; and In general, all the enemies of …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Meditations for the Sick.
Whilst thy sickness remains, use often, for thy comfort, these few meditations, taken from the ends wherefore God sendeth afflictions to his children. Those are ten. 1. That by afflictions God may not only correct our sins past, but also work in us a deeper loathing of our natural corruptions, and so prevent us from falling into many other sins, which otherwise we would commit; like a good father, who suffers his tender babe to scorch his finger in a candle, that he may the rather learn to beware …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Section Chap. I. -iii.
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The Prophet Joel.
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Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament