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Isaías 15

BLIVRE · Chapter 15/66

1Revelação sobre Moabe: Certamente em uma noite é destruída Ar-Moabe; [e] é devastada; certamente em uma noite é destruída Quir-Moabe, [e] é devastada.

2[Os moradores] sobem ao templo, e a Dibom, aos lugares altos, para chorar; Moabe grita de lamento por Nebo e por Medeba; em todas as suas cabeças há calva, e toda barba está raspada.

3Eles se vestem de sacos em suas ruas; em seus terraços, e em suas praças todos andam gritando de lamento, e descem chorando.

4Tanto Hesbom como Eleale vão gritando, até Jaaz se ouve sua voz; por causa disso os soldados armados de Moabe gritam, a alma de cada um está abalada dentro de si.

5Meu coração dá gritos por Moabe, seus fugitivos [foram] até Zoar [e] Eglate-Selisia; pois sobem com choro pela subida de Luíte, pois no caminho de Horonaim levantam um grito de desespero.

6Pois as águas de Ninrim se acabaram; pois a grama se secou, as plantas pereceram, e não há mais vegetal verde.

7Por isso levarão os bens que acumularam e seus pertences ao ribeiro dos salgueiros.

8Porque o pranto rodeia aos limites de Moabe; até Eglaim chega seu grito de lamento, e até Beer-Elim sua lamentação.

9Pois as águas de Dimom estão cheias de sangue, porém porei em Dimom ainda outros mais: um leão aos que escaparem de Moabe, e aos sobreviventes da terra.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A detailed lament over the destruction of Moab, Israel's neighboring nation east of the Dead Sea. Entire cities weep, flee, and despair in the face of an imminent catastrophe.

Explanation

Moab was an ancient kingdom descended from Lot (Abraham's nephew, Genesis 19:37) and had a historical relationship of tension and kinship with Israel — it was from there that Ruth came, great-grandmother of King David. The chapter is unusual in its tone: instead of triumph, Isaiah genuinely laments Moab's suffering, showing compassion even for a people historically hostile to Israel. The wealth of specific city names (Ar, Kir, Nebo, Heshbon) reflects detailed geographical knowledge of the Transjordan region. The application today is that announcing judgment on injustice does not mean rejoicing over someone else's suffering — one can weep even over the punishment of enemies.

Fun facts

  • Moab was a neighbor and distant relative of Israel: the book of Ruth tells the story of a Moabite woman who became the great-grandmother of King David, showing how complex the relations between the two peoples were.
  • Isaiah's tone of genuine grief for Moab ('my heart cries out for Moab') is unusual among the Bible's prophecies against foreign nations, most of which are more triumphant.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaías 15:1Ar, Kir, Bajith, Dibon, Nebo, and Medeba are cities in the territory of Moab, east of the Dead Sea. The chapter is a detailed lament, city by city, over the destruction of this neighboring people of Judah, and it sounds more like weeping for them than a threat.
  2. Isaías 15:2A shaved head and a cut-off beard were traditional signs of mourning in the ancient world. Moabites doing this in public paint the picture of an entire people in collective mourning after an invasion.
  3. Isaías 15:3Continues the scene of mourning: people dressed in sackcloth in the streets, weeping on the rooftops and in the squares, going down in tears — the complete public mourning of Moab in the face of the destruction announced at the start of the chapter.
  4. Isaías 15:4The cities of Heshbon, Elealeh, and Jahaz cry out together in despair, and even Moab’s armed soldiers are terrified, their souls filled with anguish — the panic reaches even those who should be defending the territory.
  5. Isaías 15:5Comparing Moab’s weeping to a young heifer’s cry is an idiomatic expression from the region for a particularly sharp and desperate sound of lament. It also appears in other ancient texts to describe cries of pain.
  6. Isaías 15:6The waters of Nimrim, once a source of life for the region, dry up completely — withered grass, dead vegetation, no green plant left standing — an image of farmland ruined by war.
  7. Isaías 15:7Facing this destruction, the people of Moab carry away everything they managed to save and flee to the “brook of the willows,” a border point, trying to escape to safe territory outside Moab.
  8. Isaías 15:8The weeping and wailing spread across all of Moab’s borders, reaching distant cities like Eglaim and Beer-elim — the mourning covers the entire region, end to end.
  9. Isaías 15:9The waters of Dimon, probably another name for Dibon, become full of blood, and the punishment continues: lions will attack the few Moabites who managed to escape — not even the survivors are safe.

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