Bible Strands
Isaiah 16:6
We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaiah pronounces a judgment against Moab, positioned between a promise of a righteous Davidic throne (Isaiah 16:5) and a summons for Moab to lament its impending ruin (Isaiah 16:7).
The words — The Hebrew גְאוֹן (ge'on) and גֵּא (ge') translate to pride and haughtiness, while שָמַ֥עְנוּ (sha.ma.nu) means "we have heard," framing the passage as a reported assessment of Moab's character.
The thread — The reported arrogance parallels Jeremiah 48:29, while the danger of self-deception through pride appears in Obadiah 1:3, standing apart from Amos 2:1 where Moab's judgment is explicitly tied to burning the bones of Edom's king to lime.
Why it lands — The text states that Moab's boasting is empty, requiring the reader to recognize that declared arrogance collapses under divine scrutiny rather than earning honor.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.
Cross-references
- Amos 2:1 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king.
- Jeremiah 48:29 We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his proud arrogance and haughtiness of heart.
- Obadiah 1:3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’
- Jeremiah 48:26 “Make him drunk, because he has magnified himself against the LORD; so Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock.
- Jeremiah 48:42 Moab will be destroyed as a nation because he vaunted himself against the LORD.
- Zephaniah 2:8 “I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted My people and threatened their borders.
- Isaiah 2:11 The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
- Isaiah 28:15 For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
- Isaiah 28:18 Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it.
- Isaiah 44:25 who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,