19 Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, ask them, 'What has happened?'
19 O inhabitant
19 Stand by the way and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer! Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, 'What has happened?'
19 Stand on the roadside, pampered women of Aroer. Interview the refugees who are running away. Ask them, 'What's happened? And why?'
19 O inhabitant of Aroer, Stand by the way and watch; Ask him who flees And her who escapes; Say, 'What has happened?'
19 You people of Aroer, stand beside the road and watch. Shout to those who flee from Moab, 'What has happened there?'
2 Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
2 For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
2 Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
2 The towns and people of Moab are at a loss, New-hatched birds knocked from the nest, fluttering helplessly At the banks of the Arnon River, unable to cross:
2 For it shall be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest; So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
2 The women of Moab are left like homeless birds at the shallow crossings of the Arnon River.
(Read Isaiah 16:1-5)
God tells sinners what they may do to prevent ruin; so he does to Moab. Let them send the tribute they formerly engaged to pay to Judah. Take it as good advice. Break off thy sins by righteousness, it may lengthen thy quiet. And this may be applied to the great gospel duty of submission to Christ. Send him the lamb, the best you have, yourselves a living sacrifice. When you come to God, the great Ruler, come in the name of the Lamb, the Lamb of God. Those who will not submit to Christ, shall be as a bird that wanders from her nest, which shall be snatched up by the next bird of prey. Those who will not yield to the fear of God, shall be made to yield to the fear of every thing else. He advises them to be kind to the seed of Israel. Those that expect to find favour when in trouble themselves, must show favour to those in trouble. What is here said concerning the throne of Hezekiah, also belongs, in a much higher sense, to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Though by subjection to Him we may not enjoy worldly riches or honours, but may be exposed to poverty and contempt, we shall have peace of conscience and eternal life.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 48:19
Commentary on Jeremiah 48:14-47
(Read Jeremiah 48:14-47)
The destruction of Moab is further prophesied, to awaken them by national repentance and reformation to prevent the trouble, or by a personal repentance and reformation to prepare for it. In reading this long roll of threatenings, and mediating on the terror, it will be of more use to us to keep in view the power of God's anger and the terror of his judgments, and to have our hearts possessed with a holy awe of God and of his wrath, than to search into all the figures and expressions here used. Yet it is not perpetual destruction. The chapter ends with a promise of their return out of captivity in the latter days. Even with Moabites God will not contend for ever, nor be always wroth. The Jews refer it to the days of the Messiah; then the captives of the Gentiles, under the yoke of sin and Satan, shall be brought back by Divine grace, which shall make them free indeed.