Isaiah 15
New English Translation
The Lord Will Judge Moab
15 This is an oracle[a] about Moab:
Indeed, in a night it is devastated,
Ar of Moab is destroyed!
Indeed, in a night it is devastated,
Kir of Moab is destroyed!
2 They went up to the temple;[b]
the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament.[c]
Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba,[d] Moab wails.
Every head is shaved bare,
every beard is trimmed off.[e]
3 In their streets they wear sackcloth;
on their roofs and in their town squares
all of them wail;
they fall down weeping.
4 The people of[f] Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.
For this reason Moab’s soldiers shout in distress;
their courage wavers.[g]
5 My heart cries out because of Moab’s plight,[h]
and for the fugitives[i] stretched out[j] as far as Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah.
For they weep as they make their way up the ascent of Luhith;
they loudly lament their demise on the road to Horonaim.[k]
6 For the waters of Nimrim are gone;[l]
the grass is dried up,
the vegetation has disappeared,
and there are no plants.
7 For this reason what they have made and stored up,
they carry over the Stream of the Poplars.
8 Indeed, the cries of distress echo throughout Moabite territory;
their wailing can be heard in Eglaim and Beer Elim.[m]
9 Indeed, the waters of Dimon[n] are full of blood!
Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon.[o]
A lion will attack[p] the Moabite fugitives
and the people left in the land.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 15:1 tn See note at Isa 13:1.
- Isaiah 15:2 tn Heb “house.”
- Isaiah 15:2 tn Heb “even Dibon [to] the high places to weep.” The verb “went up” does double duty in the parallel structure.
- Isaiah 15:2 tn Heb “over [or “for”] Nebo and over [or “for”] Medeba.”
- Isaiah 15:2 sn Shaving the head and beard were outward signs of mourning and grief.
- Isaiah 15:4 tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Isaiah 15:4 tc The Hebrew text has, “For this reason the soldiers of Moab shout; his inner being quivers for him.” To achieve tighter parallelism, some emend the first line, changing חֲלֻצֵי (khalutse, “soldiers”) to חַלְצֵי (khaltse, “loins”) and יָרִיעוּ (yariʿu, “they shout,” from רוּעַ, ruaʿ) to יָרְעוּ (yorʿu, “they quiver”), a verb from יָרַע (yaraʿ), which also appears in the next line. One can then translate v. 4b as “For this reason the insides of the Moabites quiver; their whole body shakes” (cf. NAB, NRSV).
- Isaiah 15:5 tn Heb “for Moab.” For rhetorical purposes the speaker (the Lord?; see v. 9) plays the role of a mourner.
- Isaiah 15:5 tn The vocalization of the Hebrew text suggests “the bars of her gates,” but the form should be repointed to yield, “her fugitives.” See HALOT 156-57 s.v. בָּרִחַ, and BDB 138 s.v. בָּרִיהַ.
- Isaiah 15:5 tn The words “are stretched out” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Isaiah 15:5 tn Heb “For the ascent of Luhith, with weeping they go up it; for [on] the road to Horonaim an outcry over shattering they raise up.”
- Isaiah 15:6 tn Heb “are waste places”; cf. NRSV “are a desolation.”
- Isaiah 15:8 tn Heb “to Eglaim [is] her wailing, and [to] Beer Elim [is] her wailing.”
- Isaiah 15:9 tc The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa reads “Dibon” instead of “Dimon” in this verse.
- Isaiah 15:9 tn Heb “Indeed, I will place on Dimon added things.” Apparently the Lord is speaking.
- Isaiah 15:9 tn The words “will attack” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
Isaiah 15
Tree of Life Version
15 The burden of Moab.
For in the night that Ar is devastated,
Moab is ruined;
for in the night that Kir is devastated,
Moab is ruined.
2 He has gone up to the shrine, to Dibon,
to the high places to weep.
Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba.
Every head is bald, every beard shaven.
3 In their streets they wear sackcloth.
On their housetops and in their plazas,
everyone wails, weeping profusely.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out.
Their voice is heard as far as Jahaz.
Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry aloud,
his soul faints within him.
5 My heart cries out for Moab.
Her fugitives are as far as Zoar
as a three year old heifer,
for by the ascent of Luhith
they go up with weeping,
for on the way of Horonaim
they raise a cry of distress.
6 The waters of Nimrim are desolate.
The grass is withered away,
the new grass withers,
there is nothing green.
7 Therefore the riches they had gotten
and whatever they have stored,
they carry over the Wadi of Willows.
8 For the cry has gone around
the borders of Moab,
the wailing to Eglaim,
and the wailing to Beer-elim.
9 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood,
but I will bring on Dimon even more—
a lion for those escaping from Moab,
and for those remaining in the land.
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Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.