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
Common English Bible
Concerning Moab
15 An oracle about Moab.
Ar was devastated in a night; Moab is ruined!
Kir was devastated in a night; Moab is ruined!
2 Dibon has gone up to the temple, to the shrines to weep.[a]
Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba.
Every head is shaved,
every beard cut off.
3 In its streets they wear mourning clothes;
on its rooftops and in its plazas, everyone wails and falls down weeping.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
as far as Jahaz their voice is heard.
The armed men of Moab shout,
spirits trembling.
5 My heart cries out for Moab.
Its fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah.[b]
At the ascent of Luhith,
each will go up with weeping.
On the road to Horonaim,
they will raise a piercing cry.
6 The waters of Nimrim are used up.
Grass has withered;
vegetation is dead;
greenery is gone.
7 Therefore, they carry what they had stored up,
all their provisions to the Valley of the Willows.
8 An outcry sounds within the borders of Moab,
as far as Eglaim, a cry of distress,
as far as Beer-elim, a cry of distress.
9 The waters of Dibon are full of blood.
But I will bring still more upon Dibon:
a lion for Moab’s survivors, for the remaining few in the land.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 15:2 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 15:5 Heb uncertain
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