Jeremiah 48:9

Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste; her cities will become desolate, with no one to dwell in them.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Jeremiah pronounces this oracle against Moab during a campaign of divine judgment where the destroyer advances against every city and the valley is ruined. The message is directed to the Moabite nation regarding the imminent abandonment of its urban centers.

The words — The imperative תְּנוּ־ (te.nu-) meaning "give" or "put," paired with צִ֣יץ (tzitz) meaning "salt," commands a symbolic act of total desolation. This is followed by the verb תֵּצֵ֑א (te.Tze'), "it will go out," describing the forced flight of the population from those cities.

The thread — The flight imagery aligns with Psalms 11:1’s reference to fleeing like a bird and Isaiah 16:2’s description of Moab’s daughters as fluttering birds pushed from the nest. Jeremiah 48:28 reinforces this pattern by ordering the remaining inhabitants to abandon towns and hide among rocks.

Why it lands — The text states that Moab’s cities will be rendered completely desolate with no inhabitants remaining. It requires the reader to acknowledge that the judgment leaves no urban refuge or demographic recovery.

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

תְּנוּ־te.nu-give צִ֣יץtzitzsalt לְמוֹאָ֔בle./mo.'Avto/ Moab כִּ֥יkifor נָצֹ֖אna.Tzo'[surely] flying תֵּצֵ֑אte.Tze'it will go out וְעָרֶ֙יהָ֙ve./'a.Rei./haand/ cities/ its לְשַׁמָּ֣הle./sha.Mah<into>/ a waste תִֽהְיֶ֔ינָהtih.Yei.nahthey will become מֵאֵ֥יןme./'Einfrom/ not יוֹשֵׁ֖בyo.Shevinhabitantבָּהֵֽן׃ba./Henin <the>/ them

King James Version

Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.

Cross-references

Psalms 11:1 For the choirmaster. Of David. In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain!
Isaiah 16:2 Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon:
Jeremiah 48:28 Abandon the towns and settle among the rocks, O dwellers of Moab! Be like a dove that nests at the mouth of a cave.
Psalms 55:6 I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and find rest.
Jeremiah 46:19 Pack your bags for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt! For Memphis will be laid waste, destroyed and uninhabited.
Zephaniah 2:9 Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of My people will plunder them; the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”
Revelation 12:14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle to fly from the presence of the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.