Isaiah 15 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Isaiah 15

An Oracle Concerning Moab

15:1 An oracle concerning Moab.

  Because Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone;
  because Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone.
2   He has gone up to the temple,¹ and to Dibon,
    to the high places² to weep;
  over Nebo and over Medeba
    Moab wails.
  On every head is baldness;
    every beard is shorn;
3   in the streets they wear sackcloth;
    on the housetops and in the squares
    everyone wails and melts in tears.
4   Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
    their voice is heard as far as Jahaz;
  therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
    his soul trembles.
5   My heart cries out for Moab;
    her fugitives flee to Zoar,
    to Eglath-shelishiyah.
  For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;
  on the road to Horonaim
    they raise a cry of destruction;
6   the waters of Nimrim
    are a desolation;
  the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,
    the greenery is no more.
7   Therefore the abundance they have gained
    and what they have laid up
  they carry away
    over the Brook of the Willows.
8   For a cry has gone
    around the land of Moab;
  her wailing reaches to Eglaim;
    her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
9   For the waters of Dibon³ are full of blood;
    for I will bring upon Dibon even more,
  a lion for those of Moab who escape,
    for the remnant of the land.

Footnotes

[1] 15:2 Hebrew the house
[2] 15:2 Or temple, even Dibon to the high places
[3] 15:9 Dead Sea Scroll, Vulgate (compare Syriac); Masoretic Text Dimon; twice in this verse

Commentary

v1: Two short chapters describe the defeat of Moab. "In a night;" a surprise attack and sudden destruction.

v2-5: Weeping and sorrow, as town after town shares in their grief. The armed men can offer no help or protection.

v6: Their once fruitful land is left desolate and barren.

v7: Moab had been acquisitive, seeking abundance at the expense of others, but God's judgment brought poverty,

v8: Their sorrow spread throughout the land.

v9: No escape, whether for those who remained in the land, of those who escaped, the sword pursued them, and cut them down. It may be that the reference to lions indicates that this defeat of Moab is at the hands of Judah, leading to tribute being paid (16.1).