Jeremiah 48:39

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 round about 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; upon all the hands are gashes, and on the loins 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, says 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 round about 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 pangs;