Jeremiah 48:39

39 How it's shattered! Go wail! How Moab turns away! What shame! Moab has become the butt of every joke, horrific to all its neighbors.

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 Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off, every hand is slashed, and everyone wears mourning clothes.

38 On every housetop of Moab and in all its streets, there's nothing but mourning. I have shattered Moab like a pottery vessel no one wants, declares the LORD.

39 How it's shattered! Go wail! How Moab turns away! What shame! Moab has become the butt of every joke, horrific to all its neighbors.

40 The LORD proclaims: Look! One who soars like an eagle and spreads its wings over Moab.

41 The towns will be captured; the strongholds will be seized. On that day, the heart of every soldier from Moab will be like that of a woman in the throes of labor.