1 THE burden of Moab. [ Moab represents a prideful kindred people. ] Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, [ Moab's major cities of Ar and Kir suffer the same sodom-and-Gomorrah type of destruction “in one night” the entire Greater Babylon entity does. ] and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, [ Assyria launches its overnight attack and destroys entire cities, the Moabites resort to praying and weeping in their places of worship; but too late. ] and brought to silence;

2 He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.

3 In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: [ Although Jehovah sends prophets to warn of his Day of Judgment (Isaiah 16:14; 20:3-4), Greater Babylon’s inhabitants foolishly assume that Assyria will abide by the peace treaties it makes and not resort to treachery: “See, their stalwarts sob in public; the champions of peace weep bitterly. The highways are desolate, travel is at an end. The treaties have been violated, their signatories held in contempt; man is disregarded” (Isaiah 33:7-8; cf. 33:1). ] on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.

4  And Heshbon shall cry, [ The cry of catastrophe sounds throughout the land as its inhabitants seek refuge and send out appeals for aid. Hoping to escape destruction, people evacuate danger zones. ] 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. [ As among all nations and peoples who comprise Greater Babylon, the wicked are caught unawares: “Catastrophe shall overtake you, which you shall not know how to avert by bribes; disaster shall befall you from which you cannot ransom yourself: there shall come upon you sudden ruin such as you have not imagined” (Isaiah 47:11). So immense is the land’s desolation that even the military is disheartened—“their spirit shall be broken.” ]

6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. [ Symbolic of great drought. Greater Babylon—all peoples who choose not to repent—suffers the curses of drought and lost dwellings: “Until the cities lie desolate and without inhabitant, the houses without a man, and the land ravaged to ruin. For Jehovah will drive men away, and great shall be the exodus from the centers of the land” (Isaiah 6:11-12) ]

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 Beer-elim.

9 For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, [ Curses extend to being pursued by enemies—the Assyrian alliance—and being devoured by wild beasts. ] and upon the remnant of the land.