Isaiah 15:1-8

Judgment on Moab

1 The oracle concerning ¹Moab. Surely in a night ²Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined; Surely in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.

2 They have gone up to the temple and to ³Dibon, even to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone's head is ⁴bald and every beard is cut off.

3 In their streets they have girded themselves with ⁵sackcloth; ⁶On their housetops and in their squares Everyone is wailing, ⁷dissolved in tears.

4 ⁸Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out, Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz; Therefore * the armed men of Moab cry aloud; His soul trembles within him.

5 My heart cries out for Moab; His fugitives are as far as ⁹Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah *, For they go up the ¹⁰ascent of Luhith weeping; Surely on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress ¹¹over their ruin.

6 For the ¹²waters of Nimrim are desolate. Surely the grass is withered, the tender grass died out, There is ¹³no green thing.

7 Therefore * the ¹⁴abundance which they have acquired and stored up They carry off over the brook of Arabim.

8 For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab, Its wail goes as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer-elim.

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Isaiah 15:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 15

This chapter is a prophecy of the destruction of the Moabites; two of their principal cities are mentioned as made desolate, Isa 15:1 the inhabitants in divers places are represented as weeping and mourning, and showing various signs of it, Isa 15:2,3 yea, not only the common people, but the armed soldiers also, Isa 15:4 nay, even the prophet himself, Isa 15:5 the reasons of which were the great drought, so that there were no grass, nor green thing, Isa 15:6 the carrying away of their good things, either by themselves or others, Isa 15:7 the flight and cry of the people to the very borders of the land, Isa 15:8 and the great effusion of blood, Isa 15:9.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 14

1. Isaiah 11:14; Isaiah 25:10; Jeremiah 48:1; Ezekiel 25:8-11; Amos 2:1-3; Zephaniah 2:8-11
2. Numbers 21:28
3. Jeremiah 48:18, 22
4. Leviticus 21:5; Jeremiah 48:37
5. Jonah 3:6-8
6. Jeremiah 48:38
7. Isaiah 22:4
8. Numbers 21:28; Numbers 32:3; Jeremiah 48:34
9. Jeremiah 48:34
10. Jeremiah 48:5
11. Isaiah 59:7; Jeremiah 4:20
12. Isaiah 19:5-7; Jeremiah 48:34
13. Joel 1:10-12; Joel 2:3
14. Isaiah 30:6; Jeremiah 48:36

Footnotes 7

[a]. Or "burden of"
[b]. Lit "house"
[c]. Lit "going down in weeping"
[d]. Another reading is "the loins of"
[e]. Lit "desolations"
[f]. Lit "come to an end"
[g]. Or "the poplars"