Historical chapter commentary
Verse 1. Moab. Which would be visited in three years’ time (chapter 16:14) either by Ezechias, or by Sennacherib, though history be silent on this head. The Moabites had been very crue., Amos 1 and 2.—Night. Suddenly. Calmet.—Their misery was so much the greater. Worthington.—Ar. The capital. Calmet.
Verse 2. House. Prot. “he is come up to Baith,” ( Bible.) or the royal family is gone to the temple of their idol, Chamos, to lament. Saint Jerome Menochius. Calmet.—Shaven. As in mourning. Jeremiah 48:37.
Verse 4. Itself. Every one shall deplore his own distress.
Verse 5. My. A charitable heart will grieve for the misfortune of an enemy. Worthington.—I shall join in the general lamentations, though Moab has always been so great an enemy of Israel. Calmet.—Septuagint “the heart of Moab cries in itself to Segor.” Bible.—We will retire thither. Chal.—Bars. Princes. Prot. “his fugitives shall,” and so forth—Heifer. Strong and ungovernable. Hebrew “to Heglath and to Shelishia for,” and so forth though we may as well adhere to the Vulg. Septuagint and so forth
Verse 6. Nemrim. Or Nemra, (Numbers 32:3) to the north of Segor. Calmet.—The country around hence became barren. Saint Jerome
Verse 7. Willows. That is, as some say, the waters of Babylon; others render it a valley of the Arabians, ( Challoner.) or “of crows,” to which their bodies will be exposed. Calmet. 57:6.
Verse 8. Cry. Of iniquity, or rather of grief.
Verse 9. Dibon. Septuagint and so forth read, “Dimon,” which signifies, “blood.” I will give it a better claim to this appellation.—Lion. Nabuchodonosor. Calmet.—Septuagint “I will bring the Arabs up on Dimon, and will take away the seed of Moab, and Ariel, and the remnant of Adama.” Bible.