Bible Strands
Isaiah 16:9
So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses Moab concerning the destruction of its agricultural centers, following the oracle's description of withered fields and trampled vines. This declaration occurs within a prophetic judgment sequence that moves from land devastation to the silencing of harvest celebrations.
The words — The Hebrew אֲרַיָּוֶךְ (arayyeka) carries a second-person suffix and literally means "I will water you abundantly," describing the speaker’s tears falling on Heshbon and Elealeh. The phrase כֵּ֡ן אֶבְכֶּ֞ה (ken evkeh) translates to "therefore I weep," directly tying the mourning to the preceding agricultural collapse.
The thread — The weeping over Moab’s vines runs parallel to the lament in Isaiah 15:4, where Heshbon and Elealeh cry out. The silencing of triumphant shouts over harvests connects to the removal of joy in Isaiah 16:10 and the broader prophetic pattern of agricultural desolation.
Why it lands — The text states that divine judgment halts the agricultural cycles that sustained a nation's economy and identity. It asks the reader to acknowledge that the end of harvest celebration marks the concrete termination of a people's prosperity and security.
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The Hebrew words
King James Version
Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 40:12 they all returned from all the places to which they had been banished and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered an abundance of wine grapes and summer fruit.
- Isaiah 15:4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voices are heard as far as Jahaz. Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out; their souls tremble within.
- Jeremiah 40:10 As for me, I will stay in Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine grapes, summer fruit, and oil, place them in your storage jars, and live in the cities you have taken.”
- Judges 9:27 And after they had gone out into the fields, gathered grapes from their vineyards, and trodden them, they held a festival and went into the house of their god; and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech.
- Isaiah 9:3 You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people rejoice before You as they rejoice at harvest time, as men rejoice in dividing the plunder.
- Jeremiah 48:32 I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah, more than I weep for Jazer. Your tendrils have extended to the sea; they reach even to Jazer. The destroyer has descended on your summer fruit and grape harvest.