Isaiah 16:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 16:9
Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
to weep · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
weeping
בִּבְכִ֤יbiv.Khi
H1065
a weeping · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Jazer
יַעְזֵר֙ya'.Zer
H3270
Jaazer or Jazer · proper noun, a place name
vine
גֶּ֣פֶןGe.fen
H1612
a vine (as twining) · noun, common both genders singular construct
Sibmah
שִׂבְמָ֔הsiv.Mah
H7643
Sebam or Sibmah · proper noun, a place name
water
אֲרַיָּ֙וֶךְ֙'a.rai.Ya.vekh
H7301
to slake the thirst (occasionally of other appetites) · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
tears
דִּמְעָתִ֔יdim.'a.Ti
H1832
weeping · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Heshbon
חֶשְׁבּ֖וֹןchesh.Bon
H2809
Cheshbon · proper noun, a place name
Elealeh
וְאֶלְעָלֵ֑הve.'el.'a.Leh
H500
Elale or Elaleh · conjunction + proper noun, a place name
shouting
הֵידָ֥דhei.Dad
H1959
acclamation · noun, common masculine singular absolute
fruits
קֵיצֵ֛ךְkei.Tzekh
H7019
harvest (as the crop) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
harvest
קְצִירֵ֖ךְke.tzi.Rekh
H7105
severed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
fallen
נָפָֽלna.Fal
H5307
to fall · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 40:12 Even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered…
Isaiah 15:4-5 And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life…
Jeremiah 40:10 As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, which will come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine, and summer fruits, and oi…
Judges 9:27 And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god,…
Isaiah 9:3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when th…
Jeremiah 48:32-34 O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 16:6–end
Here we have, I. The sins with which Moab is charged, Isa 16:6. The prophet seems to check himself for going about to give good counsel to the Moabites, concluding they would not take the advice he gave them. He told them their duty (whether they would hear or whether they would forbear), but despairs of working any good upon them; he would have healed them, but they would not be healed. Those that will not be counselled cannot be helped. Their sins were, 1. Pride. This is most insisted upon; for perhaps there are more precious souls ruined by pride than by any one lust whatsoever. The Moabites were notorious for this: "We have heard in both ears of the pride of Moab; it is what all their ne…
I--will bewail for its desolation, though I belong to another nation (see on Isa 15:5).
with . . . weeping of Jazer--as Jazer weeps.
shouting for . . . fallen--rather, "Upon thy summer fruits and upon thy luxuriant vines the shouting (the battle shout, instead of the joyous shout of the grape-gatherers, usual at the vintage) is fallen" (Isa 16:10; Jer 25:30; Jer 51:14). In the parallel passage (Jer 48:32) the words substantially express the same sense. "The spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits."
John Gill on Isaiah 16:9
Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah,.... That is, bewail the one, as he had done the other, both places with the fruits about them being destroyed by the enemy; or "therefore with weeping I will bewail" (most vehemently lament, an usual Hebraism) "Jazer", and "the vine of Sibmah": the prophet here represents the Moabites weeping for their vines more especially, they being a people addicted to drunkenness, in which their father was begotten; hence Bacchus is said to be the founder of many of their cities, see Jeremiah 48:32. The Targum is,
"as I have brought armies against Jazer, so will I bring slayers against Sibmah;''
I will water thee with my tears: shed…
(Verse 9) Over this I will weep, in lamentation for Jazer, the vineyard of Sabama: my tears will make you drunk, O Esebon and Eleale. The voice of the weeping Prophet, and the greatness of the desolation, testifying with the greatness of tears, weeping for the vineyard of Jazer, and Sabama, and Esebon, and Eleale, once powerful cities, which the Assyrian believed to be cut down. Since the voice of those treading on your vintage and your harvest has come rushing upon you. Understand, you gatherers of grapes and the joy of the harvest, the army of enemies, and that the time of captivity will come in the very time of joy.
(Verses 9, 10.) The scourges of the Lord have fallen upon the nations: they have reached even to Jazer. They have wandered in the desert: their branches have been left behind: they have crossed the sea. Therefore, I will weep over the vineyard of Sabama with weeping: I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Eleale: for on your harvest and on your crop the voice of the treaders has fallen. Joy and gladness will be taken away from Carmel: there will be no rejoicing or jubilation in the vineyards: the one who used to tread the wine in the winepress will not tread it anymore: I have taken away the sound of the treaders. The suburban areas of Esebon, which we mentioned earlier, are deserted, and the vineyard of Sabama, which can be interpreted not only as a lofty elevation but also as some kind of conversion, because it seems that in the region of Moab, it wants to be partially converted to the service of the Lord. Therefore, the Apostles and apostolic men, servants of the Lord of nations, completely cut off the scourges and offshoots of this vine of Sabama, so that no other heresies would arise from other heresies, and a boundless multitude of the erring would not be made. And not only did the branches of Sabama fall, but they reached as far as Jazer, which is interpreted as their strength: that is, to the most powerful teachings of the heretics, and constructed with dialectic art, in which the strength of their error seemed to reside; and to such an extent was their sword brandished, that in the end they wandered in the wilderness and had no one to kill. And although those lashes were cut off, nevertheless, due to the fault of the rotten root, some branches remained. But the lords of the nations have passed over the sea, that is to say, the temptations of this world, of which we read in the psalm: Come into the depths of the sea, and the tempest shall swallow me up (Ps. 68: 3); and in another place: They that go down to the sea in ships, doing business in the great waters: these have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep (Ps. 106: 23). Therefore, these have passed over the sea, in order to behold the works of the Lord and his wonders in the depths of temptations, while they are delivered from them. Therefore, the prophetic discourse laments the strength of the heretics, that is, Jazer and the vineyard of Sabama, which exalts itself…
Dictionary and topics
Elealeh — God has ascended, a place in the pastoral country east of Jordan, in the tribe of Reuben (Num. 32:3, 37). It is not again mentioned till the time of Isaiah (15:4; 16:9) and Jeremiah (48:34). It is…
Jaazer — He (God) helps, a city of the Amorites on the east of Jordan, and assigned, with neighbouring places in Gilead, to Gad (Num. 32:1, 35; Josh. 13:25). It was allotted to the Merarite Levites (21:39).…
Shebam — (fragrance), one of the towns in the pastoral district on the east of Jordan; demanded by and finally ceded to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. (Numbers 32:3) It is probably the same as Shibmah,…
Sibmah — Coolness; fragrance, a town in Reuben, in the territory of Moab, on the east of Jordan (Josh. 13:19); called also Shebam and Shibmah (Num. 32:3, 38). It was famous for its vines (Isa. 16:9; Jer.…
Vine — One of the most important products of Palestine. The first mention of it is in the history of Noah (Gen. 9:20). It is afterwards frequently noticed both in the Old and New Testaments, and in the…
Wine — The common Hebrew word for wine is yayin, from a root meaning “to boil up,” “to be in a ferment.” Others derive it from a root meaning “to tread out,” and hence the juice of the grape trodden out.…
Elealeh · Repossessed by the Moabites — Repossessed by the Moabites
Grape · .By the Amorites — .By the Amorites
Harvest, The · Failure of: A cause of great grief — Failure of: A cause of great grief
Moabites · Prophesies respecting: Desolation and grief — Prophesies respecting: Desolation and grief
Prophets · Felt deeply on account of the calamities which they predicted
John Calvin on Isaiah 16:9
Therefore I will bewail. The Prophet here takes upon him the character of another person, as we have formerly remarked; for in the name of the Moabites he laments and groans. It is undoubtedly true that believers always shudder at the judgments of God, and cannot lay aside the feelings of human nature, so as not to commiserate the destruction of the wicked. Yet he does not describe his own feelings; but his intention is to give additional weight to his instruction, that no one may entertain a doubt as to the accomplishment. He therefore represents in the person of a Moabite, as on a stage, the mourning and grief which shall be felt by all after that calamity, in order to hold out to the Jews…
The beauties of nature and fruitfulness of the land, which come into the possession of any nation, are gifts from the riches of divine goodness, remnants of the paradisaical commencement of the history of man, and types of its paradisaical close; and for this very reason they are not matters of indifference to the spirit of prophecy. And for the same reason, it is not unworthy of a prophet, who predicts the renovation of nature and the perfecting of it into the beauty of paradise, to weep over such a devastation as that of the Moabitish vineyards which was now passing before his mind (cf., Isa 32:12-13). "Therefore I bemoan the vines of Sibmah with the weeping of Jazer; I flood thee with my…
The vineyards at Sibmah were located by the Moabite city of Heshbon. • Moab was like a luxuriant vine that extends far and wide, but Israel’s beautiful vine reached to the ends of the earth (27:6). • The location of Jazer is unknown.
Rashi on Isaiah 16:9
I will weep with the weeping of Jazer Jonathan paraphrases: As I brought camps upon Jazer, so will I bring killers upon Sibmah, and, according to the wording of the verse, the prophet states: Similar to the lamentations of Jazer, I have to lament over you, the vine of Sibmah.
I will be sated over you with my tears Heb. אַרְיָוֶךְ, I will be sated over you. There are some words that serve as two words. Comp. (Jer. 10:20) “My children went out of me (יְצֵאוּנִי)”; (Jos. 15:19) “A dry land you have given to me (נְתַתָּנִי)”; (Gen. 37:4) “To speak to him (דַּבְּרוֹ) peacefully.”
your figs Heb. (קִיצֵךְ), the figs that are dried out in the summer.
a shout the noise of robbers and spoilers.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
