Jeremiah 48:4

4 Moab will be broken up. Her little children will cry for help.

Jeremiah 48:4 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 48:4

Moab is destroyed
Either the whole nation in general; so the Targum,

``the kingdom of Moab is broken;''

and so Abarbinel; or a city so called, which some take to be the city Areopolis. Jerom ^F7 says, that Moab is a city of Arabia, now called Areopolis; and which also has the name of Rabbathmoab, or "grand Moab"; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard;
seeing their parents killed, and they left desolate, and in the hands of the enemy; and not only so, but just going to be dashed in pieces by them. The Targum interprets it, her governors; and so Jarchi, who thinks they are so called, because they are lesser than kings. Kimchi and Ben Melech suggest, that these are called so by way of contempt. The word "tzeir" signifies both "little" and "great", as the learned Pocock ^F8 has abundantly proved.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F7 De locis Heb. fol. 87. H. & 93. B.
F8 Not. Miscell. in Port. Mosis, p. 17, 18.

Jeremiah 48:4 In-Context

2 Moab will not be praised again. Men in the town of Heshbon plan Moab's defeat. They say, 'Come, let us put an end to that nation!' Town of Madmen, you will also be silenced. The sword will chase you.

3 Listen to the cries from the town of Horonaim, cries of much confusion and destruction.

4 Moab will be broken up. Her little children will cry for help.

5 Moab's people go up the path to the town of Luhith, crying loudly as they go. On the road down to Horonaim, cries of pain and suffering can be heard.

6 Run! Run for your lives! Go like a bush being blown through the desert.