Isaiah 15:7

7 The people go across the Valley of Willows, trying to escape with all their possessions.

Isaiah 15:7 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 15:7

Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which
they have laid up
The great substance which the Moabites had got, and hoarded up: shall they carry away to the brook of the willows;
either the Moabites should carry their substance to some brook, it may be near Nimrim, where many willows grew, and cast it into the brook, or lay it by the brook side, in some private place, or under and among the willows, to preserve it from the enemy; or else the meaning is, that their enemies should take what they had with a great deal of labour got, and with a great deal of care had laid up, and carry it to the brook of the willows, some place without the city, and there divide it; or to the valley of the Arabians F17, as some render it, some part of Arabia lying between Moab and Babylon, whither they might carry it, in order to the conveyance of it into their own country at a proper time: it may be observed, that the country of Moab came after this into the hands of the Arabians; and, according to Jerom, the valley of Arabia lay in the way from Moab to Assyria; but it may be rendered "the valley of the willows", and design the land of Babylon, or Babylon itself, which was built in a plain, or on a flat by the river Euphrates, out of which many canals and rivulets were cut and derived, near to which willows in great abundance grew; as they usually do in marshy and watery places; hence the Jews in Babylon are said to hang their harps upon the willows which were by its rivers; so Jarchi thinks the land of Babylon is meant, and compares it with ( Psalms 137:1 Psalms 137:2 ) which sense is approved of by Bochart and Vitringa. The Septuagint version is,

``I will bring upon the valley the Arabians, and they shall take it;''
and the Targum is,
``their border, which is by the western sea, shall be taken from them.''

FOOTNOTES:

F17 (Mybreh lxn le) "in vallem Arabum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.

Isaiah 15:7 In-Context

5 My heart cries out for Moab! The people have fled to the town of Zoar, and to Eglath Shelishiyah. Some climb the road to Luhith, weeping as they go; some escape to Horonaim, grieving loudly.
6 Nimrim Brook is dry, the grass beside it has withered, and nothing green is left.
7 The people go across the Valley of Willows, trying to escape with all their possessions.
8 Everywhere at Moab's borders the sound of crying is heard. It is heard at the towns of Eglaim and Beerelim.
9 At the town of Dibon the river is red with blood, and God has something even worse in store for the people there. Yes, there will be a bloody slaughter of everyone left in Moab.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.