Bible Strands
Jeremiah 48:46
Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished; for your sons have been taken into exile and your daughters have gone into captivity.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah pronounces judgment against Moab as the prophetic oracle details the nation's imminent military collapse. The message is delivered at the moment Heshbon's advancing fire begins to consume Moab's territory.
The words — The verse opens with אוֹי (‘o), meaning "woe!" or "desolation," and uses אָבַד ('a.vad), literally "it will perish," to describe the fate of Chemosh's people.
The thread — This declaration repeats the oracle pattern of Numbers 21:29 and references the historical worship of Chemosh recorded in Judges 11:24 and 1 Kings 11:7.
Why it lands — The text states that Moab's sons are taken into exile and daughters into captivity because its patron deity has perished. It requires readers to acknowledge that reliance on foreign gods yields ruin, and that judgment must be fully realized before any future restoration can occur.
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
Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives.
Cross-references
- Numbers 21:29 Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.
- Judges 11:24 Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us.
- 1 Kings 11:7 At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.
- Jeremiah 48:7 Because you trust in your works and treasures, you too will be captured, and Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.
- Jeremiah 48:13 Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.
- 2 Kings 23:13 The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.