Jeremiah 48:44

“Whoever flees the panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon Moab the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The LORD delivers this oracle against Moab during a prophetic pronouncement of imminent military collapse. The audience is the Moabite population and leadership as enemy forces close in from multiple directions.

The words — The Hebrew נָס (nās) denotes “one who flees,” paired with פַּחַד (paḥad), “panic,” and פַּחַת (paḥat), “pit.” These terms chart a direct line from flight to entrapment without offering an exit.

The thread — This motif of inescapable judgment appears in 1 Kings 19:17, where those who escape one weapon fall to another, and in Jeremiah 11:23, which declares no remnant will survive the “year of punishment.” Jeremiah 46:21 echoes the same reality as fleeing mercenaries turn back in defeat.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human evasion cannot override divine judgment. It requires the reader to accept that resistance to declared consequences only accelerates their fulfillment.

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

He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

Cross-references

1 Kings 19:17 Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.
Jeremiah 11:23 There will be no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”
Jeremiah 46:21 Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them—the time of their punishment.
Amos 5:19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.
1 Kings 20:30 The rest of them fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.
Isaiah 10:3 What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
Isaiah 24:18 Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Isaiah 37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
Jeremiah 10:15 They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
Jeremiah 16:16 But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.