Jeremiah 48:39

39 Wail, "How shattered is Mo'av! How shamefully in retreat!" Thus will Mo'av become an object of ridicule and distress 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 has been shaved bald, every beard has been clipped short, gashes are on every hand, sackcloth around every waist.

38 On all the housetops of Mo'av and in its open places - lamentation everywhere! "For I have broken Mo'av like a pot that nobody wants," says ADONAI.

39 Wail, "How shattered is Mo'av! How shamefully in retreat!" Thus will Mo'av become an object of ridicule and distress to all its neighbors.

40 For here is what ADONAI says: "Look! Down he swoops like a vulture, spreading his wings against Mo'av

41 the cities are captured, the strongholds are seized. On that day the hearts of Mo'av's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.