Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres.
Parallel Translations
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Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres.
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Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.
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Wherefore my heart moaneth like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-heres.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Isaiah 16:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 15:5 My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.
- Isaiah 63:15 Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory. Where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me.
- Jeremiah 48:36 Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished.
- Hosea 11:8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.
- Philippians 2:1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
- Jeremiah 31:20 Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 4:19 My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart! My heart trembles within me. I can’t hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For very sorrow and compassion.
For very sorrow and compassion.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 16:11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an…
Isa 16:11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.
Ver. 11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound {a} like an harp for Moab.] The "elect of God, holy and beloved, have bowels of mercy, tenderness, and kindness" toward their very enemies also, {Col 3:12} whom they do oft pity more than they pity themselves, as Habakkuk did the Chaldeans’ calamity, {Isa 3:16} and as Daniel did Nebuchadnezzar’s downfall. {Dan 4:19} Sicut cithara plectro tacta dat sonitum in funere funereum, As they have mournful music at funerals; {Jer 9:17; Jer 9:20 Mat 9:23} or as the strings of a shawm sound heavily, so do my heart strings for miserable Moab. In a harp, if one string be touched, all the rest sound; so it should be with us in regard of fellow feeling. We should feel others’ hard cords through our soft beds.
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{a} Ego ex intimis visceribus meis conturbatus. - Jun.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Shall sound, through compassion to them; of which See…
Shall sound, through compassion to them; of which See Poole "Isa 15:5". In excessive griefs the bowels are sometimes rolled and tumbled together, so as to make an audible noise. Hereby he signifies the greatness of their approaching calamity, which being so grievous to him, must needs be intolerable to them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for…
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab,.... Making a noise as the harp does, and a mournful one as that, when used at funerals; which it makes when it is stricken or played on with the hand, as these were, through the afflictive and punitive hand of God; and which, when stricken, causes a quavering of the strings, to which the inward trembling of the bowels is compared, and is very expressive of the prophet's sympathy, or those he personates; for, when one string of the harp is touched, the rest sound. For these words, as Kimchi says, are spoken in the language of the Moabites; those that survived lamenting the desolate state of their country, which must be very great and affecting; and to show that it was so is the design of the prophet's expressing himself after this manner; for if it was painful to him, it must be much more so to them; so the Targum,
"wherefore the bowels of the Moabites shall sound as a harp;''
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of the sounding of the bowels, see Isa 63:15,
and mine inward parts for Kirharesh: the same with Kirhareseth, Isa 16:7 which being a principal city, the destruction of it was greatly laid to heart. The Targum is,
"and their heart shall grieve for the men of the city of their strength;''
it being a strong city, in which they placed their confidence; but being destroyed, and the inhabitants of it, it was very affecting, to which agrees Jer 48:31.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain My bowels - Thro' compassion. In excessive grief, the…
My bowels - Thro' compassion. In excessive grief, the bowels are sometimes rolled together, so as to make an audible noise.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 16:11-12. Wherefore my bowels shall sound as a…
Isa 16:11-12. Wherefore my bowels shall sound as a harp — Through compassion. In excessive grief, the bowels are sometimes rolled together, so as to make an audible noise. Hereby he signifies the greatness of their approaching calamity, which, being so grievous to him, must needs be intolerable to them. And when it is seen that Moab is weary, &c. — When it shall appear to them and others, that all their other devotions are vain and ineffectual; he shall come to his sanctuary to pray — To the temple of his great god Chemosh; but he shall not prevail — His god can neither hear nor help him. In other words, the Moabites, “as their last efforts, shall go to their altars, there to perform their sacred rites to appease the anger of their deity: but, wearied herewith, they shall enter into some more sacred and celebrated sanctuary of their god, to pour forth their earnest supplications and prayers, but shall obtain nothing; thus proving the vanity of their superstition, and the imbecility of those false deities on whom they trusted.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Wherefore my bowels - This is also an expression…
Wherefore my bowels - This is also an expression of the deep grief of the prophet in view of the calamities which were coming upon Moab. The “bowels” in the Scriptures are everywhere represented as the seat of compassion, pity, commiseration, and tender mercy Gen 43:30 : ‘His bowels did yearn upon his brother’ - he deeply felt for him, he greatly pitied him 1Ki 3:26; Psa 25:6; Pro 12:10; Son 5:4; Isa 63:15; Jer 4:19; Jer 31:20; Phi 1:8; Phi 2:1. In classic writers, the word ‘bowels’ denotes the “upper” viscera of victims - the heart, the lungs, the liver, which were eaten during or after the sacrifice (Robinson, “Lex.,” on the word σπλάγχνον splangchnon). In the Scriptures, it denotes the “inward parts” - evidently also the upper viscera, regarded as the seat of the emotions and passions. The word as we use it - denoting the lower “viscera” - by no means expresses the sense of the word in the Scriptures, and it is this change in the signification which renders the use of the very language of the Bible unpleasant or inappropriate. We express the idea by the use of the word “heart” - the seat of the affections.
Shall sound like an harp - The “bowels” are represented in the Scriptures as affected in various modes in the exercise of pity or compassion. Thus, in Lam 1:20, Jeremiah says, ‘My bowels are troubled’ (see Lam 2:1; Jer 31:20). Job Job 30:27, says, ‘My bowels boiled, and rested not;’ there was great agitation; deep feeling. Thus, Jer 4:19 :
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My bowels! My bowels! I am pained at my very heart.
My heart “maketh a noise” in me.
So Isa 63:15 : ‘Where is the sounding of thy bowels and mercies?’ The word ‘sound’ here means to make a tumultuous noise; and the whole expression here denotes that his heart was affected with the calamities of Moab as the strings of the harp vibrate when beaten with the plectrum or the band. His heart was deeply pained and affected by the calamities of Moab, and responded to those calamities, as the strings of the harp did to the blow of the plectrum.
Mine inward parts - The expressions used here are somewhat analogous to ours of the “beating of the heart,” to denote deep emotion. Forster says of the savages of the South Sea that they call compassion “a barking of the bowels.”
For Kirharesh - (See the note at Isa 16:7.)
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Wall. Kir-hareseth, ver. 7. I am grieved at your…
Wall. Kir-hareseth, ver. 7. I am grieved at your misfortunes. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain bowels--in Scripture the seat of yearning compassion. It means…
bowels--in Scripture the seat of yearning compassion. It means the inward seat of emotion, the heart, &c. (Isa 63:15; compare Isa 15:5; Jer 48:36).
sound . . . harp--as its strings vibrate when beaten with the plectrum or hand.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. Wherefore my bowels — An expression of deepest…
11. Wherefore my bowels — An expression of deepest grief. The viscera above the diaphragm, including heart, lungs, liver, are here called “bowels.”
Shall sound like a harp — Grief was capable, it was thought, of causing the heart to beat and the nerves to tremble; and such sensations were fancied to resemble low harp sounds.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. (Jer_48:36) my bowels shall sound like a harp]…
11. (Jer_48:36) my bowels shall sound like a harp] omit “shall” with R.V. The poet’s emotion flows forth spontaneously in the strains of the elegy. The bowels are the seat of the more intense emotions (Job_30:27), especially of compassion (Jer_4:19; Jer_31:20; Son_5:4). Kir-haresh] Kir-heres. See on Isa_16:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) My bowels shall sound like an harp .…
(11) My bowels shall sound like an harp . . .—The context leaves it uncertain whether the speaker is the prophet as in Isa_16:9, or Jehovah as in Isa_16:10. The former seems, perhaps, the most natural. On the other hand, the very phrase is used of the compassion of Jehovah in Isa_63:15. The “bowels,” as in modern language the “heart,” were looked on as the seat of the emotions, and as such they vibrate, like the chords of the harp or lyre (kinnûr) used at funerals, with the thrills of pity.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain My bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab;…
My bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab; i.e. they shall vibrate with thrills of grief (Kay).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
This continues the prophecy about the people of Moab. God describes events that will happen in the future as if it is happening in the present. (See: Isaiah 15:1-2)
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So my heart sighs like a harp for Moab
The phrase "my heart" represents Yahweh and his sad feelings. He compares his sigh to the sound of a sad song played on a harp. AT: "So I sigh like a sad song on a harp" (See: Synecdoche and Simile)
Moab ... himself ... his
All of these words refer to the people of Moab. (See: Metonymy)
my inward being for Kir Hareseth
The phrase "my inward being" represents Yahweh. The word "sighs" is understood from the previous phrase. See how you translated Kir Hareseth in Isaiah 16:7. AT: "my inward being sighs for Kir Hareseth" or "I am very sad for the people of Kir Hareseth" (See: Ellipsis)
his prayers will accomplish nothing
"his prayers will not be answered"
translationWords
heart
harp
Moab
high place
temple
pray
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.