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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.
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.
They gird themselves with sackcloth in its streets;
    on its roofs and public squares everyone wails,
        going down in weeping.
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.
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.
For the waters of Nimrim are wastelands;
    for the grass has withered,
the vegetation has vanished,
    there is no greenness.
Therefore they carry the abundance it has made
    and their store of goods over the river of the poplars.
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.
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.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 15:2 Or “temple”
  2. Isaiah 15:2 Literally “On all its heads baldness”
  3. Isaiah 15:4 The Hebrew is singular
  4. Isaiah 15:4 The Hebrew words for “cry out” and “quiver” are similar
  5. Isaiah 15:9 One of the Dead Sea Scrolls reads “Dibon” here
  6. Isaiah 15:9 Hebrew “survivor”

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