Jeremiah 48:39

39 How is it broken down! [how] do they wail! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all that are round about him.

Jeremiah 48:39 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 48:39

They shall howl, [saying], how is it broken down?
&c.] Or, "how is it broken" or "thrown into consternation ^F16? they howl"; that is, they howl out these words, or, while they are howling, say, how is Kirheres or Moab broken all to pieces; their strength, power, and glory; their cities, and their mighty men; and are in the utmost fright and confusion? Jarchi takes it to be an imperative, and paraphrases it,

``howl ye over her ^F17, and say, how is it broken!''

Kimchi says it may be taken either as in the past or in the imperative; how hath Moab turned the back with shame?
not being able to look their enemies in the face, but obliged to flee before them; so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him;
a derision to some, to their enemies, as Israel had been to them, and so they are paid in their own coin; and a consternation to others, their friends, who would fear sharing the same fate, at the hands of the Chaldeans.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (htx Kya) "quomodo consternata est", Piscator, Schmidt.
F17 (wlylyh) "ululate", Munster, Piscator; "ejulate", Junius & Tremellius.

Jeremiah 48:39 In-Context

37 For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.

38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof there is lamentation every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein none delighteth, saith Jehovah.

39 How is it broken down! [how] do they wail! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all that are round about him.

40 For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab.

41 Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.