Jeremiah 48:28

28 Ye dwellers of Moab, forsake cities, and dwell in the stone, and be ye as a culver making nest in the highest mouth of an hole. (Ye inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and live among the stones, and be ye like a dove making her nest in the highest mouth of a hole in the wall of the cliff.)

Jeremiah 48:28 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 48:28

O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the
rock
Signifying hereby that they would not be in safety in their strongest and most fortified cities, which would be besieged by the enemy, and taken; and therefore are advised to leave them, and flee to the rocks and mountains, that if possible they might be safe there: and be like the dove, [that] maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's
mouth;
which, for fear of birds of prey, makes her nest in the side of a hole, or cleft of a rock, that she and her young may be safe from them; and which being pursued by the hawk, flies into a hollow rock or cavern, as Homer ^F4 observes: but here it intends the place where it makes its nest; which is for the most part in deserts and rocky places, where great numbers of doves resort, and make their nests, as Diodorus Siculus ^F5 relates; and especially in the holes and clefts of rocks, to which the allusion is in ( Song of Solomon 2:14 ) . The Targum is,

``and be as a dove that leaves her dove house, and comes down and dwells in the bottom of a pit,''

or ditch.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Iliad. 21. v. 495.
F5 Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 92.

Jeremiah 48:28 In-Context

26 Fill ye him greatly, for he is raised (up) against the Lord; and he shall hurtle down the hand of Moab in his spewing, and he also shall be into scorn.

27 For why, Israel, he was into scorn to thee, as if thou haddest found him among thieves; therefore for thy words which thou spakest against him, thou shalt be led (away as a) prisoner.

28 Ye dwellers of Moab, forsake cities, and dwell in the stone, and be ye as a culver making nest in the highest mouth of an hole. (Ye inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and live among the stones, and be ye like a dove making her nest in the highest mouth of a hole in the wall of the cliff.)

29 We have heard the pride of Moab; he is full proud. I know, saith the Lord, the highness thereof, and pride in word, and pride in bearing, and the highness of heart, (We have heard of the pride of Moab; yea, he is very proud. I know his highness, saith the Lord, and his pride in words, and his pride in bearing, and the highness of his heart,)

30 and the boast thereof, and that the virtue thereof is not nigh, either like it, neither it enforced to do after that that it might. (and his boasting, and that his virtue, if any, is far from apparent, and that he hath not endeavoured to do what he should do.)