Bible Strands
Jeremiah 48:34
There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices to Jahaz, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet declares the LORD’s judgment against Moab, immediately after describing the removal of agricultural joy and the silencing of winepress shouts. The announcement targets specific Moabite regions as the direct consequence of their idolatry.
The words — מִזַּעֲקַת (mi.za'a.Kat) renders literally as "from the cry of distress," and נָתְנוּ קוֹלָם (na.te.Nu ko.La/m) means "they raise their voice." These terms establish the geographical arc of mourning that replaces former celebration.
The thread — Heshbon, Elealeh, and Jahaz reappear in Isaiah 15:4 as locations of lament, while Nimrim and Zoar are cataloged in Numbers 32:3 as Moabite boundaries and in Genesis 13:10 as part of the irrigated Jordan plain. The repeated geographic markers trace a consistent biblical record of Moab’s desolation.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge that prophetic warning executes tangible consequence, where former fertility yields to drought and the absence of worship replaces former ritual. It demands sober assessment of how divine judgment operates through historical and geographical reality.
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
From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.
Cross-references
- 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.
- Numbers 32:3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,
- Genesis 13:10 And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
- Numbers 32:36 Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and they built folds for their flocks.
- Deuteronomy 34:3 the Negev, and the region from the Valley of Jericho (the City of Palms) all the way to Zoar.
- Jeremiah 48:2 There is no longer praise for Moab; in Heshbon they devise evil against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.’ You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.
- Jeremiah 48:5 For on the ascent to Luhith they weep bitterly as they go, and on the descent to Horonaim cries of distress resound over the destruction: