Isaiah 15:6

6 the waters of Nimrim are a desolation; the grass is withered, the new growth fails, the verdure is no more.

Isaiah 15:6 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 15:6

For 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. Josephus ^F13 speaks of fountains of hot water springing up in the country of Peraea, where Nimrim was, of a different taste, some bitter, and others sweet; which, Dr. Lightfoot ^F14 suggests, might be these waters of Nimrim; and, according to the Jerusalem Talmud ^F15, Bethnimrah was in that part of the country which was called the valley, and so was very fruitful with springs of water. The word is in the plural number, and may design more places of the same name; and we read of Nimrah and Bethnimrah, ( Numbers 32:3 Numbers 32:36 ) . Jerom ^F16 calls it Nemra, and says it was a large village in his time; it seems to have its name from panthers or leopards, of which there might be many in these parts: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green
thing;
by which it seems that the desolation spoken of was not merely through the forage and trampling of the enemy's army, but by a drought.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 De Bello Jud. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 3. Ed. Hudson.
F14 Ut supra (See his Works, vol. 2.) p. 50.
F15 T. Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 38. 4.
F16 De locis Hebraicis, fol. 93. I.

Isaiah 15:6 In-Context

4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the loins of Moab quiver; his soul trembles.

5 My heart cries out for Moab; his fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction;

6 the waters of Nimrim are a desolation; the grass is withered, the new growth fails, the verdure is no more.

7 Therefore the abundance they have gained and what they have laid up they carry away over the Wadi of the Willows.

8 For a cry has gone around the land of Moab; the wailing reaches to Eglaim, the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.