Jeremiah 48:39

39 How it is broken! How they wail! ¹How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab ²has become a derision and a horror to all that are around 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 shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth.

38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the LORD.

39 How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him."

40 For thus says the LORD: "Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab;

41 the cities shall be taken and the strongholds seized. The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains;

Cross References

• 1. [ver. 6]
• 2. ver. 26