Chapter Overview
Summary
Isaiah 15 is the MOAB ORACLE (paired with chapter 16) — a brief lament-form-oracle. Cities-of-Moab are catalogued (Ar, Kir, Heshbon, Elealeh, Dibon, etc.) and their-fall-mourned. Verse 5's 'my heart cries out for Moab' shows divine-pathos even in-judgment-oracles.
Notable Variants
15:5 'my heart cries out for Moab' — divine-pathos in-judgment; Moabite city-catalog (Ar, Kir, Dibon, Nebo, etc.); Moab as Lot's-descendants (Gen 19) — perpetual-tension with Israel.
Structural Notes
MT Isaiah 15 = LXX Isaiah 15. 9 verses. MOAB-ORACLE (with ch. 16).
The oracle concerning Moab: Because in a single night Ar of Moab is devastated — destroyed! Because in a single night Kir of Moab is devastated — destroyed!
'An oracle concerning Moab. Because Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone; because Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone' tracks MT. AR / KIR — major-Moabite-cities.
He goes up to the temple — and Dibon to the high places — to weep. Over Nebo and over Medeba, Moab wails. Every head is shaved bald; every beard is cut off.
'He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, to the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. On every head is baldness; every beard is shorn' tracks MT. SHAVED-HEADS / SHORN-BEARDS — mourning-rituals.
In her streets they put on sackcloth; on her rooftops and in her squares everyone wails, collapsing in tears.
'In the streets they wear sackcloth; on the housetops and in the squares everyone wails and melts in tears' tracks MT. SACKCLOTH-AND-WAILING.
Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voice is heard as far as Jahaz. Therefore the soldiers of Moab tremble; their courage fails them.
'Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voice is heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; his soul trembles' tracks MT.
My heart cries out for Moab! Her fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. Up the ascent of Luhith they go weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of anguish.
'My heart cries out for Moab; her fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction' tracks MT. MY-HEART-CRIES-OUT — divine-pathos in-judgment-oracle. God-grieves-the-judged. Jeremiah 48:31, 36 (Moab's-lament repeated) shares-the-pathos.
For the waters of Nimrim are desolate; the grass is withered, the vegetation is gone, nothing green remains.
'The waters of Nimrim are a desolation; the grass is withered, the vegetation fails, the greenery is no more' tracks MT.
Therefore the wealth they have stored, their accumulated goods, they carry away across the Wadi of the Willows.
'Therefore the abundance they have gained and what they have laid up they carry away over the Brook of the Willows' tracks MT.
For the cry of anguish encircles the borders of Moab; her wailing reaches Eglaim; her wailing reaches Beer-elim.
'For a cry has gone around the land of Moab; her wailing reaches to Eglaim; her wailing reaches to Beer-elim' tracks MT.
For the waters of Dimon are full of blood, and I will bring still more upon Dimon: a lion for the survivors of Moab, for the remnant of the land.
'For the waters of Dibon are full of blood; for I will bring upon Dibon even more — a lion for those of Moab who escape, for the remnant of the land' tracks MT. WATERS-OF-DIBON-WITH-BLOOD — disaster-imagery. The Hebrew Dibon-Dimon wordplay (dam = blood).