An Oracle against Moab

15 An oracle against Moab:(A)

Ar in Moab is devastated,(B)
destroyed in a night.
Kir in Moab is devastated,
destroyed in a night.
Dibon went up to its temple
to weep at its high places.
Moab wails on Nebo and at[a] Medeba.
Every head is shaved;
every beard is cut off.
In its streets they wear sackcloth;
on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails,
falling down and weeping.
Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.(C)
Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out,
and they tremble.[b]
My heart cries out over Moab,
whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar,(D)
to Eglath-shelishiyah;
they go up the slope of Luhith weeping;
they raise a cry of destruction
on the road to Horonaim.
The waters of Nimrim(E) are desolate;
the grass is withered, the foliage is gone,
and the vegetation has vanished.
So they carry their wealth and belongings
over the Wadi of the Willows.(F)
For their cry echoes
throughout the territory of Moab.
Their wailing reaches Eglaim;
their wailing reaches Beer-elim.
The waters of Dibon[c] are full of blood,(G)
but I will bring on Dibon[d] even more than this—
a lion for those who escape from Moab,
and for the survivors in the land.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 15:2 Or wails over Nebo and over
  2. Isaiah 15:4 Lit out, he trembles within himself
  3. Isaiah 15:9 DSS, some LXX mss, Vg; MT reads Dimon
  4. Isaiah 15:9 DSS, some LXX mss, Vg; MT reads Dimon

Moab’s Pending Judgment

15 A message[a] concerning Moab:

“For Ir[b] in Moab is destroyed in a night,
    and Moab[c] is ruined!
Because Ir[d] in Moab is destroyed in a single night,
    Moab is ruined!
He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon,
    to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Medeba
    Moab wails.
His head is completely[e] bald,
    and[f] every beard is shaved off.
In its streets they wear sackcloth;
    on its rooftops and in its squares
        everyone wails and falls down[g] weeping.
Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
    their voices are heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the loins[h] of Moab cry aloud;
    its heart quakes for itself.
My heart cries out over Moab;
    her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,
        as far as Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent to Luhith
    they go up weeping;
on the road to Horonaim
    they raise a cry of destruction.
The Nimrim waters are desolate;
    the grass is withered,
its vegetation gone;
        there is[i] no foliage left.
Therefore the wealth they have acquired
    and what they have stored up—
they carry them away
    over the Arab[j] Wadi.[k]
For the cry has gone out
    along the border of Moab;
her wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,
    her wailing reaches as far as Beer-elim.
The Dibon[l] streams are full of blood;
    but I will bring upon Dibon[m] even more—
a lion will pounce[n] upon those of Moab who escape,
upon[o] those who remain in the land.”

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 15:1 Lit. An oracle
  2. Isaiah 15:1 Or For the city; so 1QIsaa; MT reads Ar; LXX lacks For Ir
  3. Isaiah 15:1 So 1QIsaa; MT reads it; LXX lacks it
  4. Isaiah 15:1 Or Because the city; so 1QIsaa; 4QIsao MT LXX read Because the wall or Because Kir
  5. Isaiah 15:2 So 1QIsaa; MT reads all its heads are; MTmss LXX read Over every head; cf. Jer 48:37
  6. Isaiah 15:2 So 1QIsaa Mtmss LXX; the Heb. lacks and
  7. Isaiah 15:3 So 1QIsaa; MT reads falling down; LXX lacks and falls down
  8. Isaiah 15:4 So 1QIsaa; cf. LXX; MT reads armed men
  9. Isaiah 15:6 So 1QIsaa; MT reads was or there has been; LXX reads there will be
  10. Isaiah 15:7 So 1QIsaa; cf. LXX; MT reads Willow
  11. Isaiah 15:7 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
  12. Isaiah 15:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads Dimon; LXX reads Remmon
  13. Isaiah 15:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads Dimon; LXX reads Remmon
  14. Isaiah 15:9 1QIsaa LXX MT lack will pounce
  15. Isaiah 15:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; the Heb. lacks upon