Isaiah 16:9

9 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Ya`zer for the vine of Sivmah; I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and El`aleh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the [battle] shout is fallen.

Isaiah 16:9 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 16:9

Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine
of Sibmah
That is, bewail the one, as he had done the other, both places with the fruits about them being destroyed by the enemy; or "therefore with weeping I will bewail" (most vehemently lament, an usual Hebraism) "Jazer", and "the vine of Sibmah": the prophet here represents the Moabites weeping for their vines more especially, they being a people addicted to drunkenness, in which their father was begotten; hence Bacchus is said to be the founder of many of their cities, see ( Jeremiah 48:32 ) . The Targum is,

``as I have brought armies against Jazer, so will I bring slayers against Sibmah;''

I will water thee with my tears:
shed abundance of them, see ( Psalms 6:6 ) : O Heshbon, and Elealeh;
perhaps alluding to the fishponds, in the former, ( Song of Solomon 7:4 ) of these places, (See Gill on Isaiah 15:4): for the shouting for thy summer fruits, and for thy harvest, is
fallen;
is ceased, so as not to be heard; namely, the singing and shouting which used to be made by labourers, while they were gathering the summer fruits, or reaping the harvest, with which they amused and diverted themselves, and their fellow labourers, and so their time and their work went on more pleasantly; or else that great joy and shouting they expressed when all was ended, something of which nature is still among us at this day; but now in Moab it was at an end, because the enemy had destroyed both their summer fruits and harvest; though Jarchi and Kimchi interpret this shouting of the enemy, of the spoilers and plunderers, upon their summer fruits and harvest, when they destroyed them; and so the Targum,

``upon thy harvest, and upon thy vintage, spoilers have fallen;''

so Noldius ^F7 renders the words, "for upon thy summer fruits, and upon thy harvest, the shouting shall fall"; that is, the shouting of the enemy, spoiling their fruits and their harvest; and this seems to be the true sense, since it agrees with ( Jeremiah 48:32 ) and the ceasing of the other kind of shouting is observed in the next verse ( Isaiah 16:10 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Ebr Concord. Part p. 253.

Isaiah 16:9 In-Context

7 Therefore shall Mo'av wail for Mo'av, everyone shall wail: for the raisin-cakes of Kir-Hareset shall you mourn, utterly stricken.

8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, [and] the vine of Sivmah; the lords of the nations have broken down the choice branches of it, which reached even to Ya`zer, which wandered into the wilderness; its shoots were spread abroad, they passed over the sea.

9 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Ya`zer for the vine of Sivmah; I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and El`aleh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the [battle] shout is fallen.

10 Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither joyful noise: nobody shall tread out wine in the presses; I have made the [vintage] shout to cease.

11 Why my heart sounds like a harp for Mo'av, and my inward parts for Kir-Heres.