“You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you. He has destroyed your strongholds.
Parallel Translations
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“You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you. He has destroyed your strongholds.
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Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds.
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O thou daughter that dwellest in Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab is come up against thee, he hath destroyed thy strongholds.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 48:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 21:30 We have shot at them. Heshbon has perished even to Dibon. We have laid waste even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.”
- Isaiah 47:1 “Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
- Isaiah 15:2 They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.
- Joshua 13:17 Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the plain; Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon,
- Jeremiah 48:22 on Dibon, on Nebo, on Beth Diblathaim,
- Genesis 21:16 She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child.” She sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.
- Exodus 17:3 The people were thirsty for water there; so the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”
- Numbers 32:3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,
- Joshua 13:9 from Aroer, that is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain of Medeba to Dibon;
- Judges 15:18 He was very thirsty, and called on Yahweh and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
- Isaiah 5:13 Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.
- Jeremiah 46:18-19 “As I live,” says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies, “surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so he will come. You daughter who dwells in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis will become a desolation, and will be burned up, without inhabitant.
- Ezekiel 19:13 Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here the Prophet turns to address the city Dibon,…
Here the Prophet turns to address the city Dibon, which was renowned among that people. The mode of speaking is well known; he calls the people of the city the daughter of Dibon; and he calls the daughter an inhabitant, because the Moabites, as it has been said, ever rested in safety and quietness in their own habitations, for no one disturbed them. It is, then, the same as though he had said, “Ye who have hitherto been in a quiet state, descend now from your glory, and dwell in thirst.” By thirst he means the want of all things. Thirst is set in opposition to glory; but it is more than if the Prophet had mentioned disgrace or poverty; for there are many who are otherwise oppressed by want, and yet find fountains or streams; but when there is no drop of water to quench thirst, it is an extreme misery.
We hence see that the Prophet exaggerates the punishment of the Moabites, when he says that the citizens of Dibon would sit in thirst, because, he says, ascended against thee has the waster, and the destroyer of thy fortresses. We may hence conclude that the city was on all sides fortified, so that it thought its defences sufficient to keep off enemies. But the Prophet derides this presumption, because the Chaldeans would come to pull down and destroy all these strongholds. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 48:18 Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come…
Jer 48:18 Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from [thy] glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, [and] he shall destroy thy strong holds.
Ver. 18. And sit in thirst,] i.e., In want of all things.
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 Of this
Of this
Dibon we read Num 21:30. It was a land for cattle, Num 32:3. Both Dibon, and Aroer, and Ataroth were built by-the children of Gad, to whose lot it fell, Num 32:34, as also to the Reubenites in part, Jos 13 17. It should seem that the Moabites were now come into the possession of it, either by conquest, or upon the Assyrians taking the ten tribes.
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Sit in thirst; it was a place well watered (otherwise it had not been fit for cattle); God threateneth that she should be
in thirst, that is, driven into some dry, barren countries.
For the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds; for the king of Babylon, whom God had appointed to spoil all Moab, shall destroy thee also, and thy strong holds shall not secure thee.
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 O inhabitant of Aroer,.... Another city that belonged to…
O inhabitant of Aroer,.... Another city that belonged to Moab, situated on the border of it towards Ammon, near the river Arnon; See Gill on Isa 17:2;
stand by the way, and espy; get to the road side where travellers pass, and look out for them:
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ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth; whether man or woman you see fleeing, having escaped the army of the Chaldeans:
and say, what is done? by the Chaldeans; ask what cities they have taken; what progress they have made; what is done to their cities, that they flee from them? tell all the particulars of things.
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 Dibon - Dibon, Aroer, and Ataroh were built by…
Dibon - Dibon, Aroer, and Ataroh were built by the children of Gad. It should seem the Moabites were not come into the possession of them. In thirst - It was a place well watered, but God threatens she should be in thirst, that is, driven into some dry, barren countries. The spoiler - The king of Babylon.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 18. That dost inhabit Dibon] This was anciently…
Verse 18. That dost inhabit Dibon] This was anciently a city of the Reubenites, afterwards inhabited by the Moabites, about two leagues north of the river Arnon, and about six to the east of the Dead Sea.-Dahler.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 48:18-25. Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon —…
Jer 48:18-25. Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon — Thou that art exalted in pride, and rendered effeminate through luxury: Dibon being one of the chief cities of Moab; come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst — Submit to a mean condition, wherein thou shalt feel the want of all the conveniences of life. The Hebrew language expresses a barren land, which yields no sustenance by a thirsty ground, Psa 63:2; Isa 35:7; Eze 19:13. O inhabitant of Aroer — A town in the borders of Moab; stand by the way and espy, &c. — The prophet describes the great concern and fear that were upon them, which made them hearken to every little report that was stirring. Howl and cry — There will be just cause for a general lamentation. Judgment is come upon the plain country, &c. — The inhabitants of the low grounds have suffered the punishment they deserved. The horn of Moab is cut off — The authority and power of Moab are taken away. This is a metaphorical expression, taken from horned beasts, whose power to defend themselves, and injure other creatures, lies chiefly in their horns. And his arm is broken — His strength is exhausted, the arm of man being the instrument whereby he chiefly discovers his strength.
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 Sit in thirst - Jeremiah draws a picture of…
Sit in thirst - Jeremiah draws a picture of the conquered inhabitants, collected outside the walls, waiting for their captors to march them away to the slave mart. The enemy occupied with plundering the houses of Dibon thinks little of the hunger and thirst of his prisoners.
Strong holds - The remains of the fortifications of Dibon are still visible.
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 Thirst. Dibon was well supplied with water, Isaias xv.…
Thirst. Dibon was well supplied with water, Isaias xv. 9.
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 (Isa 47:1).
(Isa 47:1).
dost inhabit--now so securely settled as if in a lasting habitation.
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thirst--Dibon, being situated on the Arnon, abounded in water (Isa 15:9). In sad contrast with this, and with her "glory" in general, she shall be reduced not only to shame, but to the want of the commonest necessaries ("thirst") in the arid wilderness (Jer 48:6).
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 18. Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon — Literally,…
18. Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon — Literally, thou that dost inhabit, daughter of Dibon. “Daughter” may be the subject or object of the verb.
Sit in thirst — In the desert-land, in contrast with her accustomed place near the Arnon in a beautiful plain, where to this day there is a well by the wayside hewn out of the rock.
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 18. thou daughter that dwellest (mg. art seated) in…
18. thou daughter that dwellest (mg. art seated) in Dibon] meaning, inhabitants of Dibon See on Jer_4:11.
Dibon] now Diban (the “Moabite stone” was found there in 1868) stands on two hills. Hence the expression “come down” in the text. It is four miles N. of the Arnon, and thirteen E. of the Dead Sea, and is described as now a dreary and featureless ruin.
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sit in thirst] The words are apparently corrupt, but it is difficult to obtain a satisfactory emendation; perhaps sit in mire or filth.
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 (18) Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon.—Dibon is mentioned…
(18) Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon.—Dibon is mentioned among the cities of Moab in Num_21:30; Isa_15:2, and as rebuilt by the Gadites in Num_33:45. It is prominent in the Moabite Stone inscription as a royal city. In the distribution of the conquered territory it fell to the lot of Reuben (Jos_13:7; Jos_13:9), but must afterwards have been retaken by Moab. The “strongholds” indicate a fortress. In Isa_15:9 it appears under the form of Dimon, and is there described as abounding in water, the site being probably on the north bank of the Arnon. This last feature gives point to the words of the prophet here. Its waters will not save its inhabitants from the thirst which falls on those who are dragged as captives into exile.
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 Dibon; now Diban, one of the chief towns of…
Dibon; now Diban, one of the chief towns of Moab, on two adjacent hills, now covered with ruins (Tristram), in the plain of Medeba, (Jos_13:9) north of Aroer and the Amen. Here the famous Moabite Stone (on which see Dr. Ginsburg"s exhaustive monograph), with the inscription of King Mesha, (2Ki_3:4) was found, which, after having been broke up and pieced together, has now found a resting place in the Louvre. It is difficult to say to which Israelitish tribe Dibon was, strictly speaking, attached; for while in Jos_13:17 it is given to Reuben, in Num_32:34 and in the Moabite Stone (line 10) it is assigned to Gad, Apparently the Israelitish population fluctuated. Sometimes Gad was the most adventurous in Occupying Moabitish territory, sometimes Reuben. On the phrase, the daughter, etc., see note on Jer_46:19. The form of the first verse haft is modelled on Isa_47:1. Sit in thirst. The expression is unexampled, and it is possible that we should alter one of the vowel points (which constitute no part of the Massoretic text), rendering, "sit in thirsty (ground)," i.e. the dust. (comp. the parallel passage; Isa_47:1) Or there may be a less used collateral form of the Hebrew for "thirsty" (came). Canon Tristram speaks of the "waterless plain" of Diban ("Land of Moab," p. 132). Thy strongholds. It appears from the Moabite Stone that Diben was the centre of a district which was reckoned as belonging to it; so at least we may account for the phrase, "all Dibon was submissive" (line 28). Compare the phrase in Num_21:25, "Heshbon, and all the villages thereof". (comp. on Jer_49:2)
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 you daughter living in Dibon
you daughter living in Dibon
The people of Dibon are spoken of as if they were the daughter of Dibon. AT: "you people living in Dibon" (See: Metaphor)
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Dibon
This is the name of a city in Moab. (See: How to Translate Names)
the one who will destroy Moab
"the enemy army that will destroy Moab"
Aroer
This is the name of a city in Moab. (See: How to Translate Names)
Ask the ones
"Ask the people" or "Ask the men and women"
Moab has been shamed, for it has been shattered
Here "Moab" represents the people. This can be stated in active form. AT: "The people are disgraced, for the enemy army has destroyed Moab" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)
Howl and lament
"Cry loudly in pain and anger"
that Moab has been devastated
This can be stated in active form. AT: "that the enemy army has devastated Moab" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
stronghold
watch
life
lament
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 48:18-19 Dibon and nearby Aroer were key Moabite cities.
48:18-19 Dibon and nearby Aroer were key Moabite cities.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.