Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch. Ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, ‘What has been done?’
Parallel Translations
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Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch. Ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, ‘What has been done?’
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O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?
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O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth; say: 'What hath been done?'
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 48:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 2:36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. Yahweh our God delivered up all before us.
- 1 Samuel 4:16 The man said to Eli, “I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army.” He said, “How did the matter go, my son?”
- 1 Samuel 4:13-14 When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for God’s ark. When the man came into the city and told about it, all the city cried out. When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, “What does the noise of this tumult mean?” The man hurried, and came and told Eli.
- Numbers 32:34 The children of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,
- 2 Samuel 1:3-4 David said to him, “Where do you come from?” He said to him, “I have escaped out of the camp of Israel.” David said to him, “How did it go? Please tell me.” He answered, “The people have fled from the battle, and many of the people also have fallen and are dead. Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.”
- 2 Samuel 18:24-32 Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, a man running alone. The watchman cried, and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” He came closer and closer. The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper, and said, “Behold, a man running alone!” The king said, “He also brings news.” The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.” Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is Yahweh your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!” The king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don’t know what it was.” The king said, “Come and stand here.” He came, and stood still. Behold, the Cushite came. The Cushite said, “News for my lord the king, for Yahweh has avenged you today of all those who rose up against you.” The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” The Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you to do you harm, be as that young man is.”
- 2 Samuel 24:5 They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer;
- 1 Chronicles 5:8 and Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who lived in Aroer, even to Nebo and Baal Meon;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain We have stated elsewhere why the prophets in describing…
We have stated elsewhere why the prophets in describing calamities spoke in so elevated a style; for their object was not to seek fame or the praise of eloquence. They are not these rhetorical ornaments which the prophets used; but they necessarily spoke in a lofty style of the punishments which awaited the ungodly, because such was the hardness of their hearts that they hesitated not to despise God’s threatenings, or to regard them as fables. That God’s threatenings then might penetrate into the hearts of men, it was necessary to exaggerate them by means of various comparisons, as it is done here and in many places. We ought at the same time to bear in mind what I have said, that the Prophet had a regard to his own people. As the Moabites were like a hid treasure, the Jews could never have thought it possible, that the Chaldeans would at length make an inroad there; but the Prophet declares that the thing was so certain, as though it was seen by their own eyes. In order then to lead the Jews to the very scene itself, the judgments of God are here not only described, but as it were painted.
Stand, he says, on the way, and look, thou inhabitant of Aroer This was another city of the Moabites, of which mention is made in many places; and then he mentions others, as we shall see. Ask him, he says, who fleeth and her who escapes He, indeed, changes the gender of the nouns; but when he mentions many, and then one person, he did this for the sake of amplifying; because, on the one hand, he wished to show that so great would be the number of exiles, that the whole land would become empty; and then, on the other hand, when he says that this and that person would flee, he means that they would be so scattered that they would not go in troops; but as it is usual in a disordered state of things, one would flee on this side, and another on the other side. Ask him who fleeth, or as we may render the words, Ask all who flee; and then, ask her who escapes; because not only men, but also women would flee, so that no sex would be spared. In short, he intimates, that those who dwelt in cities well fortified, would be all anxiety on seeing enemies irresistibly advancing through every part of the country.
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 48:19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the…
Jer 48:19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, [and] say, What is done?
Ver. 19. Stand by the way and espy, &c.] What brave rhetoric is here? Tenendum quidem, prophetas et apostolos non affectasse artem dicendi: vide tamen quanta etoquentia peroret Spiritus, Sanctus. {a}
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{a} Egregia est prosopopoeia.
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 Aroer was a city in the lot of Gad…
Aroer was a city in the lot of Gad and Reuben, Num 32:34. In David’s time it was in the hand of the Jews, 1Sa 30:28, but in Isaiah’s time it belonged to Syria, Isa 17:2, and here it is reckoned to the Moabites. The inhabitants of it are called to
stand by the way, and seeing the Moabites fleeing, to ask what news. Others think that Aroer was at this time a city of the Ammonites, and here called unto to see their neighbours the Moabites fleeing before their enemies.
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 Moab is confounded, for it is broken down,.... This…
Moab is confounded, for it is broken down,.... This is the answer returned, by those that had escaped and were fleeing, to those who inquired of them; who report that the whole country of Moab was in the utmost confusion and consternation; not being able to stand before the enemy, who broke down and destroyed all that was in his way: and therefore calls upon them to
howl and cry; because of the general ruin at the nation, and who must expect themselves to share the same fate; and therefore should prepare themselves and their neighbours for it, as follows:
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tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled; the country of Arnon, so called from a river of that name, on the banks of which Aroer was situated; the inhabitants of which are desired to spread it all over that part of the country, that Moab was utterly ruined by the Chaldean army; the particulars of which follow:
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 19. O inhabitant of Aroer] See Clarke on…
Verse 19. O inhabitant of Aroer] See Clarke on Jer 48:6. This place, being at a greater distance, is counselled to watch for its own safety, and inquire of every passenger, What is done? that it may know when to pack up and be gone.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Aroer - On the Arnon, due south of Dibon.…
Aroer - On the Arnon, due south of Dibon. If Dibon falls, the turn of Aroer will come next, and therefore its inhabitants are to be on the look out, asking for news.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Aroer--on the north bank of the Arnon, a city…
Aroer--on the north bank of the Arnon, a city of Ammon (Deu 2:36; Deu 3:12). As it was on "the way" of the Moabites who fled into the desert, its inhabitants "ask" what is the occasion of Moab's flight, and so learn the lot that awaits themselves (compare Sa1 4:13, Sa1 4:16).
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 19. Aroer — A town on the northern bank…
19. Aroer — A town on the northern bank of the Arnon, once belonging to Ammon, but now, apparently, to Moab.
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 19. Aroer] now ‘Ara‘ir, not to be confounded with…
19. Aroer] now ‘Ara‘ir, not to be confounded with the Aroer of Num_32:34, a Gadite city, or with an Aroer belonging to Judah (1Sa_30:28). The Aroer of the text was a few miles S.W. of Dibon. Mesha records on the “Moabite stone” that he “built (i.e. restored) the city and made the road over the Arnon.”
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 (19) O inhabitant of Aroer.—There seems to have been…
(19) O inhabitant of Aroer.—There seems to have been two cities of this name: one which had belonged first to the territory of Sihon, then to Reuben, then to Moab, on the north side of the Arnon (Deu_2:36; Deu_3:12; Deu_4:48; Jos_12:2); another in the Ammonite territory belonging to Gad, near Rabbath-Ammon, in the valley of the Jabbok (Num_32:34; Jos_13:25; Jdg_11:33). Both are probably comprised under the “cities of Aroer” in Isa_17:2. The name exists in the modern Arair. As lying on the frontier, the inhabitants of the Northern Aroer are represented as seeing the fugitives, male and female, from Dibon, and asking what had happened to drive them from their city. Milton’s lines (Par. Lost, L 407) may be quoted as illustrating the topography :
“From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild
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Of Southmost Abarim; in Hesebon
And Horonaim, Seon’s realm . . .”
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 The inhabitants of Aroer will come out in eager…
The inhabitants of Aroer will come out in eager expectation to meet the fugitives, and ask, What hath happened? (so the question should be rendered). There were several Aroers, (one belonged to the Ammonites, Jos_13:25) but as the enemy is driving the Moabites southward, the Aroer here intended can only be the town by the Arnon, which separated Moab proper first of all from the kingdom of the Amorites, (Deu_4:48 Jos_12:2) and afterwards from the territory of the Israelites. (Deu_2:36 Deu_3:12) The picture drawn in this verse is singularly appropriate to the site of Arnon, "just by the edge of the arterial highway of Moab," and commanding a complete view of the pass of the Arnon (Tristram, "Land of Moab," p. 132). There is the same variety of statement as to the Israetitish tribe to which Aroer belonged as in the case of Dibon (see ver. 18). Jos_13:16 speaks in favour of Reuben; Num_32:34 in favour of Gad.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.