What does Jeremias Chapter 48 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

City judgments, flight and idol captivity precede wine imagery. Named places, refuge command and lament retain distinct images. Fear, pit and snare precede promised return of captives.

Chapter breakdown

Jeremias 48 announces ruin to Moab’s cities: Nabo, Cariathaim, Hesebon and Oronaim precede weeping on Luith’s ascent and Oronaim’s descent. Flight like wilderness heath is urged. Trust in bulwarks and treasures leads to captivity of Chamos, priests and princes; the edition identifies the idol. Every city, valley and plain faces destruction. The flower image and curse on deceitful work and withheld sword remain; the edition glosses deceitfully as negligently and identifies this work as punishment of Moab. Fruitfulness, unchanged wine taste and scent, and overturning bottles follow; the edition explains prosperity and bad morals. Shame in Chamos is compared to Israel’s Bethel calf, separately explained.

Battle boasts give way to young men’s slaughter, swift calamity, broken staff, Dibon’s thirst, Aroer’s inquiry and proclamation at Arnon. Judgment names Helon, Jasa, Mephaath, Dibon, Nabo, Deblathaim, Cariathaim, Bethgamul, Bethmaon, Carioth and Bosra. Broken horn and arm, drunkenness and vomit answer exaltation against the Lord and derision of Israel. Leaving cities for rocks is a command with dove imagery, not an eagle-nest boast. Pride and insufficient strength accompany lament for men of the brick wall, Sabama and Jazer. Robbed harvest, lost vintage song, cries from Hesebon through Eleale and Jasa and from Segor to Oronaim, bad Nemrim waters and removed high-place sacrifice precede pipe-like lament.

Bald heads, shaved beards, tied hands and haircloth accompany mourning and a broken vessel. An approaching eagle, captured Carioth and labor-like fear precede Moab ceasing as a people. Fear, pit and snare are separately glossed as enemy sword, unforeseen calamities and ambushes. Escape leads to another peril; Hesebon’s fire and Seon’s flame consume part of Moab and the tumultuous children’s crown. Sons and daughters become captives, followed by promised return in the last days. Ceramic material, foul scent, summer harvest and eternal silence of singers are not supplied.

The story inside

Opening: City judgments, flight and idol captivity precede wine imagery. Development: Named places, refuge command and lament retain distinct images. Conclusion: Fear, pit and snare precede promised return of captives.

Lessons worth keeping

1
City judgments, flight and idol captivity precede wine imagery.
2
Named places, refuge command and lament retain distinct images.
3
Fear, pit and snare precede promised return of captives.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 88954–88991
48:7. For because thou hast trusted in thy bulwarks, and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken: and Chamos shall go into captivity, his priests, and his princes together. Chamos.... The idol of the Moabites. 48:8. And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: and the valleys shall perish, and the plains shall be destroyed, for the Lord hath spoken: 48:9. Give a flower to Moab, for in its flower it shall go out: and the cities thereof shall be desolate, and uninhabited. 48:10. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully: and cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood. Deceitfully.... In the Greek, negligently. The work of God here spoken of, is the punishment of the Moabites. 48:11. Moab hath been fruitful from his youth, and hath rested upon his lees: and hath not been poured out from vessel to vessel, nor hath gone into captivity: therefore his taste hath remained in him, and his scent is not changed. Moab hath been fruitful.... That is, rich and flourishing. And hath rested upon his lees.... That is, remained in its bad morals; as wine not decanted has its lees mixed and remains muddy. 48:12. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send him men that shall order and overturn his bottles, and they shall cast him down, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles one against another. 48:13. And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted. Of Bethel.... That is, of their golden calf which they worshipped in Bethel.
Lines 89093–89116
48:42. And Moab shall cease to be a people: because he hath gloried against the Lord. 48:43. Fear, and the pit, and the snare come upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord. Fear.... That is, the sword of the enemy. The pit.... That is, unforeseen calamities. The snare.... That is, the ambushes laid by the enemy. 48:44. He that shall flee from the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall get up out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon Moab the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. 48:45. They that fled from the snare stood in the shadow of Hesebon: but there came a fire out of Hesebon, and a flame out of the midst of Seon, and it shall devour part of Moab, and the crown of the head of the children of tumult. 48:46. Woe to thee, Moab, thou hast persisted, O people of Chamos: for thy sons, and thy daughters are taken captives. 48:47. And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the last days, saith the Lord. Hitherto the judgments of Moab.