1: Thus speaks Yehoweh of Parliaments, God of Israel to Moab:
“Woe upon Nebo (mountain overlooking the promised land where Moses died, became Reuben’s, also name of a Babylonian god, Is 15:2) for it had been devastated and caused to be shamed. Kiriathim ( twin moabite city? But fs noun with im suffix, if fp it would have been Kirioth as in Iscariot?) was caused to be shamed. The stronghold was shattered.
2: No longer praise for Moab in in Kheshbon( Sihon’s Amorite city, then Reuben’s when Sihon refused Israel peaceful passage, to build after they and Gad had helped the rest settle across the Jordan, fs) – they had thought up troublesome evil over her. Let us walk and cut her down from (being an) unbelieving nation. Also Mudhmen (south Moab near Arnon brook) you are dumb (thidomi from dammam). A sword walks after you.
3: A voice shrieks from Horonaim (cave-cave), “Devastation and a great shattering,
4: Moab was destroyed. They caused a shriek of her little ones to be heard.
5: For He ascends the Lukhith ascent (steep road between Horonaim and Tsoar, Is 15:5) with a sob. A sob ascends from the descent from Horonaim. A shriek of oppression. They had heard a shatter.
6: Flee, save your soul. And I (fs- Moab) become a stubby shrub in the desert.
7: For on account of you trusting in your works and in your treasury, you also are seized. And Kmish (Moabite God) had gone forth into exile, one with his priests and princes.
8: And a devastator comes over every city. Not a city is saved, and the valley had perished, and the plain destroyed which Yehoweh had said.
9: Give a wing/petal (tsits) to Moab for fleeingly flying. And her cities become for apallment without a dwelling in them.
10: Cursed is Yehoweh’s worker whose work is slothful/deceitful.
And cursed is the holder-back of his sword from blood.
11: Moab had been at ease from his youth. And an idler on wine dregs which were not poured out from vessel to vessel and he had not walked into exile. This he had stood – his taste (as in choice) and his scent (as in body sprays) unchanged.
12: So in coming days, I, Word Yehoweh, send him away – the tipped-out had been tipped out (ie no dregs left) – and his vessels are made empty and they dashed their jugs to pieces.
13: And Moab had been ashamed of Kmosh just as a house of Israel in a house of their god of trust/security.
14: How can you say, “We are mighty ones and men of strength in battle”?
15: Moab was destroyed and her cities had gone up and the best of her best had descended to slaughter.
His* Name is The Word, The King, Yehoweh of Parliaments.
16: The coming national calamity of Moab is near.
And His troublesome evil was very much hastened.
17: Flap about for Him* all you who surround him.
And a knower of His name says, “How shattered is a tribe/rod of strength, a branch of beauty”.
18: Descend from glory (ms), sit in thirst, dweller, daughter of Dhibon (fs, Dhiban is on a high plateau in the Madaba governorate of Jordan, 10 km north of Arnon river, was for Gad taken from Sihon, and then part of the Nabatean kindgom), for Moab’s Destroyer had arisen over you (fs) and He had ruined your (fs) fortfications.
19: Stand by a road and watch (zapa is in mizpa – God watches), Aroer’s dweller (fs, Moabite city on the north bank of the Arnon but also names of other strategic cities – one near Rabbah (Jordan) and another south-east of Bersheeba (Judah)). Inquire of a flee-er (ms) and a skulker-away (fs). Say, “What had happened to her?”
20: He had caused Moab to be shamed for she was shattered. Cause to wail and shriek. Cause to declare in Arnon (Wadi Majib flowing below sea level in a deep ( now dammed) gorge to the dead sea making a natural boundary between Reuben and Moab), promised of God to Lot Deut 2:9 but Amorite king Sihon had conquered it Num 21:28 and refused Israel throughfare Num 21:23 and was defeated and his Moabite and Ammonite lands were taken by Israel Num 21:25 before they proceeded to Balak, fs) that Moab was destroyed.
21: And judgement had come upon the land of the plains – on Kholon (fs,means Sandy, S. Judah) on Yahaetsa (means threshing floor, N of Arnon) and on Mofath (fs,above E Dead sea – approach to the plateau),
22: on Dhibon (fs) and on Nebo (fs)and on Beth Diblathim (fs, House of fig cakes vs Is 16:7 – raisin cakes),
23: on Kiriathim (fs) and on Beth Gamul (fs, weaning, somewhere on the Moab plateau) and on Beth Maon (fs, also Beth Baal Maon – house of habitation, on Moabite plateau sw of Madaba),
24: on Kirioth and on Botsrah (fs, Edomite city, modern Bueseirah in Jordan, Jesus as Judge goes from Teman to Botsrah Is 63:1, Amos 1:12) and on all far-off and nearby cities of Moab.
25: The horn (fs) of Moab, she had been cut in pieces.
His*, Word Yehoweh’s, arm had been shattered.
26: Cause Him to be drunk (shakah) for He had made a boast of Yehoweh.
He had clapped (safaq). And it happened to be Moab in His vomit, also for Him a laughingstock (skok).
27: And if it had not happened to be for laughing-stock for you,Israel.
If he had been found amongst thieves for (after) more than enough of your words about him, you cause a shake (of laughter?).
28: Forsake cities and dwell in cliffs, dwellers in Moab and become like a dove nesting across a cave-mouth.
29: We had heard of Moab’s pride, his great, lifted up pride and his arrogance and his pride and his lofty heart.
30: I, Word Yehoweh, had known his rage. Not also his bragging, not also his deeds.
31: for then I make a wail over Moab. And I shriek over all of Moab, I moan over men of Kir Kheres ( Kerak – meaning fortress – is on a spur 900m above sea level looks down into the Arnon gorge, spared by Jehoshafat in horror when its king sacrificed his heir to win 2 Kings 3:2,7, Is 16:7, fs).
32: With Yazer’s (Between Kheshbon and Rabbah Ammon (NW) on the King’s highway, conquered from Amorites, one of 48 Levitical cities for Gad Josh 21:39, 1 Chron 6:81 and source of Temple gatekeepers 1 Chron 26: 32) sob, I sob for you. Tendrils of the vine of Sibmah (town next to Kheshbon also Amorite taken by Reuben and then Moab, Is 16:8,9) had crossed over the sea till Yazer’s sea. They lay hands on your summer fruit. A destroyer had fallen on your grape harvest (Is 16:9).
33: And joy and gladness were gathered-to-remove from a vineyard and from Moab’s land. And wine from wine presses had been made to stop. No grapes are tread. A cheer, a cheer is not a cheer.
34: From Kheshbon’s (v2) shriek till Elaleh(North of Kheshbon and even higher on the plateau – hence God ascends – reconquered after Solomon’s time by Mesha, Amorite kingfs) till Yahaz (southern place where Sihon attacked Israel Num 21:23, southeast of Dhiban, on the king’s highway – maybe Kirbet-el- Medeiyineh?, fs). (Is 15:4). They gave their voice from Tsoar’s (southern tip of dead sea, Lot’s refuge, one of the 5 Sodom cities, Is 15:5) to Horanaim’s third heifer ( Is 15:5, female calf sacrificed for covenant Gen 15:9 or carefree but yoked, city near Tsoar). For Nimrim (perennial stream flowing down to the Dead sea, now Wadi el Numeirah supplies the King’s highway, villages from Horonaim to Zoar) waters are also happens to be in desolations (Is 15:6).
35: And I, Word Yehoweh, had caused causing to ascend to high places and causing to burn incense (Qatar) to his gods to cease in Moab.
36: And thus my heart, like bagpipes, drones (hums-khumah) for Moab.
And my heart, like bagpipes, drones (hums-khumah) over Kir Kheres’ (v31) men.
And thus, the wealth they had made perished.
37: For all bald heads and beards – shaved (Is 15:2).
Upon all mutilating-cuts on hands and waists – sack cloth (Is 15:3).
38: For lamentation is on all Moab’s rooftops and plazas for I, Word Yehoweh, have broken the/time of Moab like an undesired (in which there was no pleasure) vessel.
39: “How broken was she!” they had howled, “How Moab’s neck had caused to face” – he shamed Moab and it had become for laughing-stock and for ruin to all surrounding Him.
Pause and think about that!
40: For thus had Yehoweh said, “As an eagle swoops and had spread its wings against Moab,
41: the town (kerioth) was seized and the fortresses (Matsada) had been seized. And in That Day, Moab’s mighty ones heart was like a heart of a woman made distressed (Matsera).
42: And Moab was exterminated from people.
For Yehoweh had caused to be magnified
43: Dread, pitfall and snare (pakhadh פּחד,pakhath, pakh) upon you, dweller in Moab!
Word Yehoweh
44: the fugitive from My Face of The Dread falls into the pitfall.
The arise from the pitfall is seized in the snare.
For I, Word Yehoweh cause a year of giving-an-appointment -to-hold-to-account (pakad פּקד) to traverse upon her, upon Moab.
45: In Kheshbon’s shadow from strength had stood flee-ers.
For a fire had gone forth from Kheshbon and a flame from amidst Sihon and she consumes a side of Moab, and a top of the head of sons of tumult.
46: Woe to you, Moab.
Kmosh’s people had perished.
For seized are your sons into captivity and your daughters into captivity.
47: And/ but I, Word Yehoweh, will return Moab’s captives in the later days.
Till here is Moab’s judgement.
Pause and think about that.
Prayer: Lord, what destruction laid in wait for cities who sought instant gratification, rebellion and worship of materialism. May we repent and not be a laughing stock. But how merciful of you to save us despite this in the end. Amen.
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