Isaiah 15:6

6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate:[a] for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.

Isaiah 15:6 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 15:6

For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate
Or dried up, through a great drought that should come upon the land at this time; or being defiled with the blood of the slain, as Jarchi: it may denote the well watered pastures about Nimrim, that should become the forage of the enemy, and be trodden under foot by its army, or be forsaken by the proprietors of them. Josephus F13 speaks of fountains of hot water springing up in the country of Peraea, where Nimrim was, of a different taste, some bitter, and others sweet; which, Dr. Lightfoot F14 suggests, might be these waters of Nimrim; and, according to the Jerusalem Talmud F15, Bethnimrah was in that part of the country which was called the valley, and so was very fruitful with springs of water. The word is in the plural number, and may design more places of the same name; and we read of Nimrah and Bethnimrah, ( Numbers 32:3 Numbers 32:36 ) . Jerom F16 calls it Nemra, and says it was a large village in his time; it seems to have its name from panthers or leopards, of which there might be many in these parts: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green
thing;
by which it seems that the desolation spoken of was not merely through the forage and trampling of the enemy's army, but by a drought.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 De Bello Jud. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 3. Ed. Hudson.
F14 Ut supra (See his Works, vol. 2.) p. 50.
F15 T. Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 38. 4.
F16 De locis Hebraicis, fol. 93. I.

Isaiah 15:6 In-Context

4 And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life shall be grievous unto him.
5 My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.
6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.
8 For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beerelim.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. desolate: Heb. desolations
The King James Version is in the public domain.