Isaiah 15
Lexham English Bible
Oracle of Judgment on Moab
15 An oracle of Moab:
Because Ar is devastated in a night, Moab is destroyed;
because Kir of Moab is devastated in a night, it is destroyed.
2 It has gone up to the house,[a]
and Dibon to the high places
for weeping over Nebo,
and Moab wails over Medeba.
Every head is bald,[b]
every beard is shaved.
3 They gird themselves with sackcloth in its streets;
on its roofs and public squares everyone wails,
going down in weeping.
4 And Heshbon and Elealeh cry[c] out,
their voice is heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the armed ones of Moab cry out;
its soul quivers[d] for him.
5 My heart cries out for Moab;
its fugitives flee up to Zoar,
to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith it goes up it with weeping;
for on the road of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.
6 For the waters of Nimrim are wastelands;
for the grass has withered,
the vegetation has vanished,
there is no greenness.
7 Therefore they carry the abundance it has made
and their store of goods over the river of the poplars.
8 For a cry for help has encircled the territory of Moab,
her wailing is heard as far as Eglaim,
and her wailing as far as Beer Elim.
9 For the waters of Dimon[e] are full of blood;
but I will place added things upon Dimon:
a lion for the survivors[f] of Moab
and for the remnant of the land.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 15:2 Or “temple”
- Isaiah 15:2 Literally “On all its heads baldness”
- Isaiah 15:4 The Hebrew is singular
- Isaiah 15:4 The Hebrew words for “cry out” and “quiver” are similar
- Isaiah 15:9 One of the Dead Sea Scrolls reads “Dibon” here
- Isaiah 15:9 Hebrew “survivor”
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.
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