Jeremiahchapter 48
47 verses · Jeremiah, written by Baruch · 7th to 6th century BC · The Prophets
Yet in the latter days I will restore Moab from captivity,” declares the LORD. Here ends the judgment on Moab.
Introduction
Jeremiah, written by Baruch, The Prophets, Jeremiah Overview.
This is the longest of Jeremiah's oracles on a single neighbour, and it concerns Moab, the kingdom across the Dead Sea descended from Lot. Moab and Israel shared a border, a language close to Hebrew, and centuries of raids and grudges. Moab had a rich wine country, and its god was Chemosh. The chapter reads like a map of falling towns set to the sound of mourning. Listen for the picture drawn from the making of wine, for the lines Jeremiah takes up from older prophets, and for who is said to weep. The last verse holds a surprise.
Context
- Who
- Judeans who traded with Moab, quarrelled with Moab, and had relatives there
- What
- A long poem of judgment on Moab, naming its towns and its god, and closing with a promise to restore Moab from captivity in the latter days.
- Where
- Moab, the tableland east of the Dead Sea between the Arnon gorge and the Zered, with towns such as Nebo, Heshbon, Dibon and Kir-heres.
- When
- Undated in the text, and most readers place it in the years before or after Jerusalem's fall, with Babylon's subjection of Moab about 582 BC as the likely fulfilment.
- Why
- To announce Moab's fall for its pride, its trust in its wealth and its mockery of Israel, while leaving a door of future mercy open.
Historical context
This is the longest of the foreign oracles and it is stuffed with place names off the high tableland east of the Dead Sea: Nebo, Kiriathaim, Heshbon, Dibon, Aroer, Kir-hareseth, Sibmah, Elealeh, Jazer. Many of the same towns appear on the Moabite Stone, an inscribed black basalt slab set up by King Mesha of Moab around 840 BC and found at Dhiban in 1868, which names Nebo, Dibon and Aroer and credits the god Chemosh with Moab's victories. The god that stone celebrates is the god this chapter says will go into exile with his priests.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Moab's wealth was wine and wool. The chapter names the terraced vineyards of Sibmah whose shoots reached the sea, the treaders in the presses, and the shouting at the vats, and says the shouting will stop.
The most memorable picture is a winemaker's. Moab has been at ease from his youth and settled on his dregs, meaning wine left standing on the sediment in one jar, never poured from vessel to vessel. That was how good wine was clarified, and the racking is a rough business for the wine. Moab has never been racked, and so, the chapter says, his taste has not changed. Comfort had preserved him and spoiled him.
Moab's national trait, named four times, is pride: loftiness, arrogance, and boasting against the LORD. And Moab's national security had been geography, a plateau ringed by deep gorges, hard to reach and easy to hold.
Significance
First hearers knew Moab as the neighbour who mocked Judah's troubles. This chapter tells them Moab will be shamed by Chemosh just as Israel was shamed by trusting Bethel.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
What would have startled them is the grief in it. God says my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and the chapter ends by promising to restore Moab's fortunes in the latter days. Judgment here is not celebration.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for this lane, printed no weekly portion and no Haftarah from this chapter, and no festival reading for the book. That table carries the Haftarah of each of the fifty-four weekly portions and the books read whole at the feasts, and it carries nothing for the special Sabbaths or the fast days. This card therefore names no public reading of the chapter and leaves that question to a source that holds those readings.
The corpus joins the chapter to the weeks of the Torah portions through the works arranged by portion. Under the tenth verse it carries Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Lech Lecha 29.
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Every quotation of it is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern, and his headwords, which carry the verse in that translation's wording, are never quoted.
Rashi reads the long list of Moab's towns as wordplay: "according to their names he mentions their retribution" (Rashi on Jeremiah 48:2:1). Aroer in the sixth verse gets two readings. With Targum Jonathan it is a lone tower in the desert that looks like a ruin, and Menahem read the word as the name of a tree (Rashi on Jeremiah 48:6:1).
The wings for Moab in the ninth verse he explains by the word's range, since every part that hangs or protrudes is called by it (Rashi on Jeremiah 48:9:1). He joins it to the fringes of Numbers 15:39. The work of the Lord in the tenth verse is "The work of the destruction of Moab, which is the mission of the Omnipresent" (Rashi on Jeremiah 48:10:1). Chemosh is the god "in whom they trusted" (Rashi on Jeremiah 48:13:1). The drunkenness of the twenty-sixth verse is a cup of weakness given to Moab "until he is drunk" (Rashi on Jeremiah 48:26:1).
The corpus carries ten further notes on this chapter without an English text. Each is marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref, so each is cited here and none is quoted. The notes of Metzudat David are cited at Metzudat David on Jeremiah 48:3:1, 48:14:1 and 48:16:1. The notes of Radak are cited at Radak on Jeremiah 48:7:1, 48:8:1, 48:15:1, 48:18:1, 48:20:1, 48:24:1 and 48:25:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries thirty-two rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the second verse it holds Bereshit Rabbah 41:3. On the seventh verse it holds Tractate Soferim 7:1. On the tenth verse it holds Bava Batra 21b:2, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Lech Lecha 29, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 2:2, Ein Yaakov, Bava Batra 2:2 and Kohelet Rabbah 4:1:1. It holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 17:14:6 and Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 20:8:6 there as well. On the eleventh verse it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 22:1, Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 22:1, Esther Rabbah 4:1, Megillah 12b:8, Midrash Lekach Tov on Esther 1:14:1 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 45:26:4. It holds Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Megilat Esther, Midrash on the Book of Esther 3, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 12:22, Shabbat 145b:11 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 286:4 there as well. On the twelfth verse it holds Pesachim 118a:11.
On the twenty-first verse it holds Tractate Soferim 7:4. On the twenty-second verse it holds Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 711:2. On the twenty-seventh verse it holds Tractate Soferim 7:2. On the thirtieth verse it holds Bereshit Rabbah 51:10, Bereshit Rabbah 51:9, Ruth Rabbah (Lerner) 5:14:1, Ruth Rabbah 5:14 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 86:4. On the thirty-sixth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 20:1.
On the forty-first verse it holds Bereshit Rabbah 63:10. On the forty-second verse it holds Otzar Midrashim, Chuppah of Eliyahu, Chuppat Eliyahu Rabbah 80. On the forty-seventh verse it holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Numbers 24:17:1. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Jeremiah 48:2:1 to 48:26:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Jeremiah 48:3:1, 48:14:1 and 48:16:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on Jeremiah 48:7:1, 48:8:1, 48:15:1, 48:18:1, 48:20:1, 48:24:1 and 48:25:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/jeremiah/48.json, the 32 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion and no Haftarah for this chapter and no festival reading for this book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Moab Spoiled and Her Cities Takenvv. 1-10
Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: The oracle names Moab’s towns, and verse 7 gives the cause: “Because you trust in your works and treasures.” Moab’s god goes too: “Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.” Verse 10 curses the one who “withholds his sword from bloodshed,” a charge not to spare Moab.
Jeremiah 48:1
“Against Moab - Concerning Moab. Is confounded - Is brought to shame. Misgab - The high fort; some special fortress, probably Kir-haraseth 2Ki 3:25.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Jeremiah 48:1
“Nebo--a mountain and town of Moab; its meaning is "that which fructifies." Kiriathaim--a city of Moab, consisting of two cities, as the word signifies; originally held by the Emim (Ge 14:5).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 48:2
No more praise of Moab - “The glory of Moab, that it had never been conquered,” (Dahler), is now at an end. Dr. Blayney translates: - “Moab shall have no more glorying in Heshbon; They have devised evil against her (saying.)” And this most certainly is the best translation of the original. He has marked also a double paronomasia in this and the next verse, a figure in which the prophets delight; בחשבון חשבו becheshbon chashebu “in Cheshbon they have devised,” and מדמן תדמי madmen tiddommi, “Madmena, thou shalt be dumb.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:2
“Heshbon was midway between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok; it was the residence of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and afterwards a Levitical city in Gad (Nu 21:26). There is a play on words in the Hebrew, "Heshbon, Hashbu." Heshbon means a place of devising or counsel.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 48:3
“A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim,.... Another city of Moab. The word is of the dual number; and, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, there were two Horons, the upper and the lower; of this place See Gill on Isa 15:5; this also should be destroyed; and so a cry of the inhabitants of it should be heard out of it: spoiling, and great destruction; because the city was spoiled, and a great destruction made in the inhabitants and riches of it.”
Jeremiah 48:5
“Luhith was situated upon an eminence, and Jeremiah describes one set of weeping fugitives as pressing close upon another. In the going down of Horonaim ... - Rather, in the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distresses of the cry of breaking, i. e., the cry of distress occasioned by the ruin inflicted by the enemy. It was situated in a hollow, probably near the Dead Sea.”
Jeremiah 48:6
“Flee, save your lives - The enemy is in full pursuit of you. Be like the heath - כערוער caaroer, “like Aroer;” which some take for a city, others for a blasted or withered tree. It is supposed that a place of this name lay towards the north, in the land of the Ammonites, on a branch of the river Jabbok; surrounded by deserts. Save yourselves by getting into the wilderness, where the pursuing foe will scarcely think it worth his while to follow you, as the wilderness itself must soon destroy you.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 48:7
“For because thou hast trusted in thy works,.... The strong works and fortifications they had made about their cities, and so thought themselves safe in them; which is the sense of the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, and those that follow them. Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of their cattle and other possessions, as the word is rendered in 1Sa 25:2; which they observe.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:7
“Works - Possibly the products of labor. The versions render fortifications. Chemosh - As the national god of Moab Num 21:29, he represents the whole land; and his being led into captivity implies the total ruin of those under his protection. His name here spelled Chemish is repeated in Car-chemish, i. e., the fortress of Chemish.”
Jeremiah 48:8
“And the spoiler shall come upon every city,.... That is, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and his army. The Targum is, the spoilers, who came against and took every city of Moab, and wasted them.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:8
“The valley - The lowlands on the east bank of the Jordan, and at the top of the Dead Sea. The plain - An upland pasture; it answers very much to downs: so in Jer 48:21.”
Jeremiah 48:9
“Give wings, &c.-- (Ps 55:6). Unless it get wings, it cannot escape the foe. "Wings," the Hebrew root meaning is a "flower" (Job 14:2); so the flower-like plumage of a bird.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 48:10
“Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully,.... Which is said with respect to the Chaldeans, who were enjoined to destroy the Moabites; which is called the work of the Lord, because he had given them a commission to do it; and which was to be done by them, not by halves, or in a remiss and negligent manner, but fully and faithfully; they were not to spare them, as Saul did the Amalekites, and Ahab Benhadad.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:10
“Lord--the divinely appointed utter devastation of Moab. To represent how entirely this is God's will, a curse is pronounced on the Chaldeans, the instrument, if they do it negligently (Margin) or by halves (Jud 5:23); compare Saul's sin as to Amalek (1Sa 15:3, 9), and Ahab's as to Syria (1Ki 20:42).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Settled on His Lees, Never Poured from Vessel to Vessel
settled like wine on its dregs: Moab “has been at ease from youth, settled like wine on its dregs,” never “poured from vessel to vessel or gone into exile.” Now the pourers will “shatter his jars,” and Moab will feel shame over Chemosh as Israel did “when they trusted in Bethel.”
Jeremiah 48:11
“Not emptied - A metaphor of wine which is drawn out from vessel to vessel, when it is drawn off the lees. It is expounded by the next words. Therefore - And this is the reason why they retain their old sins, pride, presumption, and luxury.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:11
“Moab from the time it conquered the Emims Deu 2:9-10, and so became a nation, had retained quiet possession of its land, and enjoyed comparative prosperity. From the Moabite Stone we gather that King Mesha, after the death of Ahab threw off the yoke of Israel; nor except for a short time under Jeroboam II was Israel able to bring the Moabites back into subjection. They gradually drove the Reubenites back, and recovered most of the territory taken from the Amorites by Moses, and which originally had belonged to them.”
Jeremiah 48:12
“I will send unto him wanderers that shall cause him to wander - Dr. Blayney renders צעים tsaim, tilters; those who elevate one end of the wine cask when nearly run out that the remains of the liquor may be the more effectually drawn off at the cock. And this seems to be well supported by the following words, - And shall empty his vessels - I will send such as will carry the whole nation into captivity.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 48:13
“Israel was ashamed of Beth-el - After Salmaneser had carried Israel away, they could trust no longer in the calf of Bethel established by Jeroboam.”
Jeremiah 48:14
“How say ye, we are mighty and strong men for the war? The Moabites were proud, haughty, and arrogant; boasted much of their strength and valour; of the strength of their bodies, and fitness for war, and skill in it; and of the strength of their fortified cities; and thought themselves a match for the enemy, and secure from all danger: for this their pride, vanity, and self-confidence, they are here reproved, since their destruction was at hand.”
Jeremiah 48:15
Rather, “Moab is spoiled,” and her cities have gone up, i. e., in smoke, have been burned Jos 8:20-21. Others render, “The waster of Moab and of her towns is coming up to the attack, and her chosen youths are gone down to the slaughter.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:15
“When this took place, the young warriors would go down from the burning citadels only to meet their own slaughter [GROTIUS]. English Version is somewhat favored by the fact that "gone out" is singular, and "cities" plural.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 48:16
“The calamity of Moab is near to come,.... As it did come within live years after the destruction of Jerusalem, as observed on Jer 48:12; out of Josephus: and his affliction hasteth fast: or, "his evil" (z) the evil of punishment for his sin; his utter destruction. (z) רעתו "malum ejus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:16
“Near to come - Twenty-three years elapsed between the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when this prophecy was spoken, and its accomplishment by the invasion of Moab five years after the capture of Jerusalem. So slowly does God’s justice move onward.”
Jeremiah 48:17
“The lamentation over Moab uttered by those “round about him,” i. e., the neighboring nations, and those “that know his name,” nations more remote, who know little more than that, there is such a people, takes the form of an elegy. The metaphorical expressions, “staff of strength,” and “rod” or “scepter of beauty,” indicate the union of power and splendor in the Moabite kingdom.”
Jeremiah 48:18-28
Come down from your glory: Dibon is told, “Come down from your glory; sit on parched ground.” “The horn of Moab has been cut off, and his arm is broken.” The cause is given in verse 26, “he has magnified himself against the LORD,” and verse 27 recalls Moab’s ridicule of Israel.
Jeremiah 48:18
“That dost inhabit Dibon - This was anciently a city of the Reubenites, afterwards inhabited by the Moabites, about two leagues north of the river Arnon, and about six to the east of the Dead Sea. - Dahler.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 48:19
“Aroer - On the Arnon, due south of Dibon. If Dibon falls, the turn of Aroer will come next, and therefore its inhabitants are to be on the look out, asking for news.”
Jeremiah 48:20
“Tell ye it in Arnon - Apprize the inhabitants there that the territories of Moab are invaded, and the country about to be destroyed, that they may provide for their own safety.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:20
“Or, “Moab is ashamed, because she (Dibon) is broken” by her fortifications being battered down.”
Jeremiah 48:21
“And judgment is come upon the plain country,.... Of Moab, which was for the most part such, especially that which lay near Arnon; the judgment of God's vengeance, punishment for sin, by the hand of the Chaldeans. The Targum is, "they that execute vengeance are come:'' upon Holon; a city of Moab; of which see Jos 15:51; it had its name perhaps from the sandy ground on which it stood.”
Jeremiah 48:23
“Beth-meon - Meon is probably the Moabite Olympus, and thus Beth-Baal-Meon, the full name of this town Jos 13:17, would signify the place where the heavenly Baal was worshipped.”
Jeremiah 48:24
“Kerioth - A synonym of Ar, the old capital of Moab. It appears to have been a considerable place, and has been identified with El-Korriat, situated on the long ridge of Mount Attarus. Bozrah - Probably the Bosora mentioned in 1 Macc. 5:26 in company with Bosor, i. e., Bezer. Since the word means sheepfolds, it was no doubt a common name for places in this upland region, fit only for pasturage.”
Jeremiah 48:25
“The horn of Moab is cut off,.... The kingdom of Moab, high and strong, his power and strength, by which he defended himself, and offended others, as a beast with his horns; his powerful kingdom, and the glory of it: and his arm is broken, saith the Lord; so that he cannot hold a sword, or manage any weapon of war against the enemy, or do anything to annoy him, or in his own defence.”
Moab Made Drunken, Broken Like a Vessel No One Wants
Jeremiah 48:26
“Make ye him drunken - With the wine-cup of God’s fury, until terror deprive him of his senses.”
Jeremiah 48:27
“What did Israel do to deserve such derision? Was he detected in theft, that thou didst so exult over him in speaking of him? Though guilty before God, Israel was guiltless towards thee. since--"since ever" thou didst begin speaking of him. skippedst for joy--at Israel's calamity [CALVIN]; or, "thou didst shake thy head" in "derision" [MAURER].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:27
“But the Moabites industriously proclaimed their joy, and avowed the enmity they had to Israel, triumphing over every Israelite they met with in distress and laughing at him, which was as inhuman as it was impious and an impudent affront both to man, whose nature they were of, and to God, whose name they were called by.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 48:28
“Dwell in the rock - See Jer 4:29. The sole chance of escape is refuge in inaccessible fastnesses. In the sides ... - On the further side “of the mouth of the pit.” The wild rock pigeon invariably selects deep ravines for its nesting and roosting.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:28
“Dwell in the rock - Go to the most inaccessible places in the mountains. The hole’s mouth - And into the most secret eaves and holes of the earth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
We have heard of Moab’s pomposity: Moab’s pride is named in a string of words: “his exceeding pride and conceit, his proud arrogance and haughtiness of heart.” Much of this section follows Isaiah 15 and 16. The LORD mourns in His sentence, “I will wail for Moab,” and “My heart laments like a flute for Moab.”
Jeremiah 48:29
Let heretics give heed.… "His haughtiness and his arrogance and his pride and the loftiness of his heart I know," says the Lord, "because his strength is not according to the loftiness of his boasts."
Jerome · written before 420 · Against the Pelagians 2.29patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 48:29
“Jeremiah adds "loftiness and arrogancy" to Isaiah's picture, so that Moab had not only not been bettered by the chastisement previously endured as foretold by Isaiah, but had even become worse; so that his guilt, and therefore his sentence of punishment, are increased now. Six times Moab's pride (or the synonyms) are mentioned, to show the exceeding hatefulness of his sin.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 48:29
“It was charged upon them Isa. xvi. 6 , but here it is expressed more largely that there. Since then they had been under humbling providences, and yet were unhumbled; nay, they grew more arrogant and haughty, which plainly marked them for that utter destruction of which pride is the forerunner.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 48:30
But it shall not be so - Most commentators translate, “I know, saith Jehovah, his arrogancy, and the emptiness of his boastings; they have worked emptiness.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:30
“CALVIN translates, "his lies are not right (that is, his vauntings are vain because God will not give them effect); they shall not do so" as they project in their minds, for God will set at naught their plans.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 48:31
“Kir-heres--Kir-hareseth, in Isa 16:7; see on Isa 16:7. It means "the city of potters," or else "the city of the sun" [GROTIUS]. Here "the men of Kir-heres" are substituted for "the foundations of Kir-hareseth," in Isa 16:7.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 48:32
Or, “More than the weeping of Jazer” over its ruined vineyards “will I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah.” Compare the marginal reference. Jazer lies in an upland valley about 15 miles north of Heshbon. Thy plants ... - “Thy branches are gone over the sea, i. e.” the power of Moab is felt even on the western side of the Dead Sea; “they reached etc.”
Jeremiah 48:33
“Winepresses - Rather, “wine-vats,” into which the wine runs from the presses. Their shouting shall be no shouting - The vintage shout is - silence. For the vines have been destroyed, and desolation reigns where once was the joyful cry of those who tread the grapes.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:33
“However, Moab alone seems to be spoken of here; nor does the parallelism forbid "plentiful field" answering to "Moab." English Version is therefore better. shouting--repeated; as at the conclusion of the vintage, men sing over and over again the same cry of joy.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 48:34
“As a heifer of three years old - Which runs lowing from place to place in search of her calf, which is lost or taken from her.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 48:35
“Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the Lord, him that offereth in the high places,.... A burnt offering there; that is, the priest, who shall be taken and carried captive, Jer 48:7; even everyone of them; so that there will not be one left to otter sacrifice: and him that burneth incense to his gods: Chemosh, and others, the Moabites worshipped: this suggests that idolatry was one of the sins for which they were punished; and as all places and all sorts of persons should suffer in this calamity, so likewise idolatrous places, priests, and worshippers.”
Jeremiah 48:36
“Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes,.... That are sounded on mournful occasions, as at funerals, and the like; see Mat 9:23. This the prophet said, as Kimchi observes, in the person of the people, the inhabitants of Moab; whose hearts would yearn and sound for the calamities of their country like the doleful sound of minstrels.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:36
Like pipes - A wind instrument, used at funerals Mat 9:23. The riches that he hath gotten - literally, “that which remains over, a superfluity.”
Jeremiah 48:37
“For every head shall be bald - These, as we have seen before, were signs of the deepest distress and desolation.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:37
“Cuttings - Compare Jer 16:6, and marginal references.”
Jeremiah 48:39
Literally, “How is it broken down! they wail! How hath Moab tutored the back in shame! Yea, Moab is become a laughter and a terror Jer 17:17 to all who are round about him.”
An Eagle Spreading Wings: Yet Moab's Captivity Shall Turnvv. 40-47
an eagle swoops down and spreads his wings against Moab: Escape is closed: “Terror and pit and snare,” the same chain Isaiah 24:17-18 uses of the whole earth. The “fire” from Heshbon and “flame from within Sihon” take up the old song of Numbers 21:28. The last verse turns: “Yet in the latter days I will restore Moab from captivity.”
Jeremiah 48:40
“For thus saith the Lord, behold, he shall fly as an eagle,.... The enemy, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with his army; who is compared to an eagle for his strength, swiftness, and greediness after the prey: and shall spread his wings over Moab; as an eagle spreads its wings, which are very large, over the little birds it seizes upon as its prey; so the king of Babylon would bring a numerous army against Moab, and spread it over his country.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:40
“The rapid and irresistible attack of Nebuchadnezzar is compared to the impetuous dash of the eagle on its prey Deu 28:49.”
Jeremiah 48:42
“Moab shall be destroyed from being a people - They shall not have a king or civil governor: and I doubt whether there be any evidence that they were ever reinstated in their national character. They were captivated by the Chaldeans; and probably many returned with the Jews on the edict of Cyrus: but as to their being an independent nation after this, where is the positive proof?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:42
“And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people,.... For some time, not always; since the captivity of Moab is promised to be returned, Jer 48:47; or from being such a people as they had been, enjoying so much ease, wealth, power, and prosperity.”
Jeremiah 48:43
“Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee,.... A proverbial expression, showing, that if they escaped one danger, or sore judgment, they should fall into another and greater: the words seem to be taken from Isa 24:17; See Gill on Isa 24:17; O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord; what in the prophecy of Isaiah is said of the inhabitants of the earth in general, is here applied to the inhabitants of Moab in particular.”
Jeremiah 48:44
“He that fleeth from the fear,.... From terrible enemies he is afraid of, and dares not face them, but flees, in order to escape them: shall fall into the pit; into some misfortune or another: and he that getteth out of the pit shall be taken in the snare; laid by the enemy for him, and so shall fall into his hands.”
Jeremiah 48:45
“Because of the force - Rather, without force. Translate it: “The fugitives have stood, (i. e., halted) powerless in the shadow of Heshbon.” As Heshbon was the capital of the Ammonites, the sense is that the defeated Moabites looked to Ammon for protection. But afire ... - Not only will Ammon refuse aid to Moab, but her ruin is to come forth from Heshbon. To show this Jeremiah has recourse to the old triumphal poetry of the Mosaic age (marginal reference).”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 48:45
“GLASSIUS translates, "through want of strength." So the Hebrew particle is translated (Ps 109:24), "faileth of fatness," that is, "faileth through want of fatness"; also La 4:9. but a fire, &c.--copied in part from Sihon's hymn of victory (Nu 21:27, 28).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 48:46
“The people of Chemosh - The Moabites, who worshipped Chemosh as their supreme god.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 48:47
“Yet it looks further, to gospel times; the Jews themselves refer it to the days of the Messiah; then the captivity of the Gentiles, under the yoke of sin and Satan, shall be brought back by divine grace, which shall make them free, free indeed. This prophecy concerning Moab is long, but here it ends; it ends comfortably: Thus far is the judgment of Moab.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 48:47
“Bring again the captivity - (Or, “restore the prosperity.”) A similar promise is given to Egypt, Ammon, and Elam Jer 46:26; Jer 49:6. Thus far ... Moab - An editorial note by the same hand as the last words of Jer 51:64.”
Jeremiah 48:47
“It is written that when Jeremiah caused the nations and kingdoms to drink the cup of wrath, he said concerning each one of the cities, that after they shall drink the cup, I will turn back the captivity of Elam, of Tyre, of Sidon, of the children of Ammon, and of Moab and of Edom.”
Aphrahat the Persian Sage · written before 345 · DEMONSTRATIONS 21:6patristic
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Carl Friedrich Keil, with John Gill, The Prophecies of Jeremiah and Exposition of the Old Testament, cited together by the site's exposition notes on Jeremiah 48:1 to 10 and 48:40 to 47 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, cited by the site's exposition note on Jeremiah 48:29 to 39.
The exposition
Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.