Isaiah 15:6
in Isaiah 15The waters of Nimrim are dried up, and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone, and the greenery is no more.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate; for the grass is withered away, the tender grass faileth, there is no green thing.
KJV
For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
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This verse in Isaiah 15
Commentary
10 notes on this verseFor the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate,.... Or dried up, through a great drought that should come upon the land at this time; or being defiled with the blood of the slain, as Jarchi: it may denote the well watered pastures about Nimrim, that should become the forage of the enemy, and be trodden under foot by its army, or be forsaken by the proprietors of them.
This site's exposition
Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh
on Isaiah 15:4-6
Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh traces the wailing across a real map, cities named in sequence as the sound of Moab's ruin travels from town to town until it reaches Jahaz. Verse 5 turns the voice of the oracle itself: my heart shall cry out for Moab, the prophet or the Lord grieving the very judgment being pronounced, fugitives fleeing south to Zoar along the ascent of Luhith with weeping. The bench draws the same strange compassion forward to Jeremiah 48, which borrows this chapter's language nearly word for word and adds mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, a rare case in the prophets of judgment and grief spoken in the same breath.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 6) For the waters of Nemrim will be deserted. This town is on the Dead Sea, with salty waters, and even this itself is barren. Whether it alludes to the name, or whether it happened after the devastation, that even the waters turned bitter. Because the grass has withered, the bud has failed, all the greenness has perished. Not as some think, truly because the waters of Nemrim were barren, all the grass has dried up, but Scripture speaks metaphorically. And the meaning is, in all of Moab the waters of Nemrim will be salty and bitter; just as no grass sprouts there, so the whole province will suffer from drought, that is, from Segor to Oronaim, from borders to borders. The same thing is said by Jeremiah: The waters of Nemrim will be very bad (Jerem. XLVIII, 34).
(Verse 6) And this will happen because the waters of Nemrim, that is, the teachings of heretics, which are compared to leopards and transgressors, will be deserted and brought to nothing. They are stubborn, whose variations and blemishes are not changed (Jeremiah XIII), and apostates, of whom we read in the Psalms, I have regarded all the sinners of the earth as transgressors (Psalm CXVIII, 119). Also, every plant and sprout, and everything that seemed green in their speech, withered.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, the barrenness of their fields, for the waters, that is, the land of Moab will be so barren it will be like the territory around the town of Nemrim, which is by the sea, because its waters are salty and bitter; not indeed because …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Naomi went to sojourn there when there was a famine in Canaan. This is the country which (it is here foretold) should be wasted and grievously harassed, not quite ruined, for we find another prophecy of its ruin ( Jer. xlviii. ), which was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar. This prophecy here was to be fulfilled within three years ( ch. xvi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
), that is, the country is plundered and impoverished, and all the wealth and substance of it swept away by the victorious army. Famine is usually the sad effect of war.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Waters - Watery grounds being very fruitful, are commonly most inhabited; but now they also, much more the dry and barren grounds, shall be desolate and without inhabitant.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For the waters of Nimrim - It is supposed by some that the prophet here states the cause why the Moabites would flee to the cities of the south, to wit, that the “waters” of the northern cities would fail, and the country become desolate, and that they would seek support in the south. But it is more probable that he is simply continuing the description of the desolation that would come upon Moab. Nimrah, or Beth Nimra, meaning a “house of limpid waters,” was a city of Reuben east of the Dead Sea (Num 32:3; compare Jer 48:34).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
For--the cause of their flight southwards (2Ki 3:19, 25). "For" the northern regions and even the city Nimrim (the very name of which means "limpid waters," in Gilead near Jordan) are without water or herbage.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
My heart shall cry out for Moab The Jewish prophets are not like the gentile prophets. Balaam sought to uproot Israel for no reason, whereas the prophets of Israel bewail the calamity that befalls the nations.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מֵ֥י | mei | [the] waters of | H4325 → | 581 times |
| נִמְרִ֖ים | nimrim | Nimrim | H5249 → | |
| מְשַׁמּ֣וֹת | meshamot | wastes | H4923 → | |
| יִֽהְי֑וּ | yihyu | they are | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יָבֵ֤שׁ | yavesh | it has dried up | H3001 → | 59 times |
| חָצִיר֙ | chatzir | grass | H2682 → | 21 times |
| כָּ֣לָה | kalah | it has wasted away | H3615 → | 208 times |
| דֶ֔שֶׁא | deshe' | vegetation | H1877 → | 14 times |
| יֶ֖רֶק | yerek | greenery | H3418 → | |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הָיָֽה׃ | hayah | it is | H1961 → | 3559 times |
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
מֵ֥י[the] waters of
meiH4325 →581 times
נִמְרִ֖יםNimrim
nimrimH5249 →
מְשַׁמּ֣וֹתwastes
meshamotH4923 →
יִֽהְי֑וּthey are
yihyuH1961 →3559 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יָבֵ֤שׁit has dried up
yaveshH3001 →59 times
חָצִיר֙grass
chatzirH2682 →21 times
כָּ֣לָהit has wasted away
kalahH3615 →208 times
דֶ֔שֶׁאvegetation
deshe'H1877 →14 times
יֶ֖רֶקgreenery
yerekH3418 →
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
הָיָֽה׃it is
hayahH1961 →3559 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 8:7Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 38:22
I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.
- Revelation 9:4
They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
- Revelation 9:18
A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that proceeded from their mouths.
- Revelation 9:15
So the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.
- Isaiah 28:2
Behold, the Lord has one who is strong and mighty. Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest, like a driving rain or flooding downpour, he will smash that crown to the ground.
- Ezekiel 38:22
Through
Numbers 32:3“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,
it leads to
- Isaiah 16:8–9
For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the…
- Joshua 13:17
to Heshbon and all its cities on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon,
- Numbers 32:34–38
And the Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,
- Isaiah 16:8–9
About Isaiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.