Isaiah15
New Living Translation
1This message came to me concerning Moab: In one night the town of Ar will be leveled, and the city of Kir will be destroyed.
2Your people will go to their temple in Dibon to mourn. They will go to their sacred shrines to weep. They will wail for the fate of Nebo and Medeba, shaving their heads in sorrow and cutting off their beards.
3They will wear burlap as they wander the streets. From every home and public square will come the sound of wailing.
4The people of Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out; their voices will be heard as far away as Jahaz! The bravest warriors of Moab will cry out in utter terror. They will be helpless with fear.
5My heart weeps for Moab. Its people flee to Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah. Weeping, they climb the road to Luhith. Their cries of distress can be heard all along the road to Horonaim.
6Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up! The grassy banks are scorched. The tender plants are gone; nothing green remains.
7The people grab their possessions and carry them across the Ravine of Willows.
8A cry of distress echoes through the land of Moab from one end to the other— from Eglaim to Beer-elim.
9The stream near Dibon runs red with blood, but I am still not finished with Dibon! Lions will hunt down the survivors— both those who try to escape and those who remain behind.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Isaiah 15.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The Divine judgments about to come upon the Moabites. (1-9).
vv1-9
This prophecy coming to pass within three years, would confirm the prophet's mission, and the belief in all his other prophecies. Concerning Moab it is foretold, 1. That their chief cities should be surprised by the enemy. Great changes, and very dismal ones, may be made in a very little time. 2. The Moabites would have recourse to their idols for relief. Ungodly men, when in trouble, have no comforter. But they are seldom brought by their terrors to approach our forgiving God with true sorrow and believing prayer. 3. There should be the cries of grief through the land. It is poor relief to have many fellow-sufferers, fellow-mourners. 4. The courage of their soldiers should fail. God can easily deprive a nation of that on which it most depended for strength and defence. 5. These calamities should cause grief in the neighbouring parts. Though enemies to Israel, yet as our fellow-creatures, it should be grievous to see them in such distress. In 6-9, the prophet describes the woful lamentations heard through the country of Moab, when it became a prey to the Assyrian army. The country should be plundered. And famine is usually the sad effect of war. Those who are eager to get abundance of this world, and to lay up what they have gotten, little consider how soon it may be all taken from them. While we warn our enemies to escape from ruin, let us pray for them, that they may seek and find forgiveness of their sins.
Key Words
מַשָּׂא: a burden; specifically, tribute, or (abstractly) porterage; figuratively, an utterance, chiefly adoom, especially singing; mental, desire
מוֹאָב: Moab, an incestuous son of Lot; also his territory and descendants
כִּי: (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed
עָר: Ar, a place in Moab
שָׁדַד: properly, to be burly, i.e. (figuratively) powerful (passively, impregnable); by implication, to ravage
לַיִל: properly, a twist (away of the light), i.e. night; figuratively, adversity
דָּמָה: to be dumb or silent; hence, to fail or perish; trans. to destroy
קִיר: Kir, a place in Assyrian; also one in Moab
עָלָה: to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount); used in a great variety of senses, primary and secondary, literal and figurative
בַּיִת: a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)
Cross References
Isaiah 15Jeremiah heavily incorporates this entire prophecy in his own extended burden concerning Moab.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel description of extreme mourning customs in Moab: baldness and cut-off beards.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Direct parallel describing Moab's loud wailing like a three-year-old heifer.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Identifies the specific geographical locations of Luhith and Horonaim in Moab's flight.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The prophet's deep internal, empathetic grief for Moab's devastating judgment.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Illustrates literal lions sent by God as a judgment upon the remnant of the land.
Supported by JFB
Ar of Moab identified historically as the chief territory belonging to Lot's descendants.
Supported by Matthew Poole
An ancient poetic reference to a fire going out of Ar of Moab.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Contextual law regarding shaving head and beard, practiced by Moab in heathen mourning.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Nebo adjacent to the mountain where Moses looked out and Chemosh was worshipped.
Supported by JFB
Explains flat roof architecture where easterners resorted to weep and howl.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Verbal parallel in Hebrew for being cut off and shaving in grief.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Identifies Dibon and the high places of Baal (Bajith) in Reuben's territory.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Illustrates 'three years old' as implying full physical strength and vigor.
Supported by JFB