Jeremiah 48:38

38 "On all the 1housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable * 2vessel," declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 48:38 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 48:38

[There shall be] lamentation generally
Or, "all of it [is] mourning" F14; the whole country of Moab is in mourning; or all is full of mourning; all persons, places, and things, express nothing but mourning; go where you will, it is to be seen: upon all the house tops of Moab, and in the streets thereof;
the mourning, as it was general, it was public; it was seen by all, and everywhere; (See Gill on Isaiah 15:3); for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein [is] no pleasure, saith
the Lord;
as an earthen vessel, which the potter does not like, and which is useless and unprofitable to any, and which he takes and dashes into pieces; into a thousand shivers, as the word F15 here signifies, and can never be put together again; or as a filthy unclean vessel a man cannot bear in his sight: Moab is by the Lord called his wash pot, ( Psalms 60:8 ) . The Moabites were vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction by their own this; and now the time of it was come.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 (dpom hlk) "totus luctus (est) vel omnia luctus (sunt)", Schmidt; "totus erit planctus", Junius & Tremellius; "per omnia erit planctus", Piscator.
F15 (ytrbv) "totalis confractio praedicitur", Schmidt.

Jeremiah 48:38 In-Context

36 "Therefore My heart wails for Moab like flutes; My heart also wails like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have lost the abundance it produced.
37 "For every head is bald and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands and sackcloth on the loins.
38 "On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like an undesirable vessel," declares the LORD .
39 "How shattered it is! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back -he is ashamed! So Moab will become a laughingstock and an object of terror to all around him."
40 For thus says the LORD : "Behold, one will fly swiftly like an eagle And spread out his wings against Moab.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Isaiah 22:1
  • 2. Jeremiah 19:10, 11; Jeremiah 22:28; Jeremiah 25:34

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Lit "all of it is lamentation"
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