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41 Her towns[a] will be captured;
her fortresses will be taken.
At that time the soldiers of Moab will be frightened
like a woman in labor.[b]
42 Moab will be destroyed and no longer be a nation,[c]
because she has vaunted herself against the Lord.
43 Terror, pits, and traps[d] are in store
for the people who live in Moab.[e]
I, the Lord, affirm it![f]

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 48:41 tn Parallelism argues that the word קְרִיּוֹת (qeriyyot) be understood as the otherwise unattested feminine plural of the noun קִרְיָה (qiryah, “city”) rather than the place name Kerioth mentioned in v. 24 (cf. HALOT 1065 s.v. קִרְיָה). Both this noun and the parallel term “fortresses” are plural but are found with feminine singular verbs, being treated either as collectives or distributive plurals (cf. GKC 462-63 §145.c or 464 §145.l).
  2. Jeremiah 48:41 tn Heb “The heart of the soldiers of Moab will be like the heart of a woman in labor.”
  3. Jeremiah 48:42 tn Heb “Moab will be destroyed from [being] a people.”
  4. Jeremiah 48:43 sn There is an extended use of assonance here and in the parallel passage in Isa 24:17. The Hebrew text reads פַּחַד וָפַחַת וָפָח (pakhad vafakhat vafakh). The assonance is intended to underscore the extensive trouble that is in store for them.
  5. Jeremiah 48:43 tn Heb “are upon you, inhabitant of Moab.” This is another example of the rapid switch in person, or direct address (apostrophe) in the midst of a third person description or prediction, which the present translation typically keeps in the third person for smoother English style.
  6. Jeremiah 48:43 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”