Jeremiah 49:3
New International Version
“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed! Cry out, you inhabitants of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; rush here and there inside the walls, for Molek will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.

New Living Translation
“Cry out, O Heshbon, for the town of Ai is destroyed. Weep, O people of Rabbah! Put on your clothes of mourning. Weep and wail, hiding in the hedges, for your god Molech, with his priests and officials, will be hauled off to distant lands.

English Standard Version
“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth, lament, and run to and fro among the hedges! For Milcom shall go into exile, with his priests and his officials.

Berean Standard Bible
Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth within your walls, for Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.

King James Bible
Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.

New King James Version
“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is plundered! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah, Gird yourselves with sackcloth! Lament and run to and fro by the walls; For Milcom shall go into captivity With his priests and his princes together.

New American Standard Bible
“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, daughters of Rabbah, Put on sackcloth and mourn, And move about inside the walls; For Malcam will go into exile Together with his priests and his leaders.

NASB 1995
“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament, And rush back and forth inside the walls; For Malcam will go into exile Together with his priests and his princes.

NASB 1977
“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament, And rush back and forth inside the walls; For Malcam will go into exile Together with his priests and his princes.

Legacy Standard Bible
“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament, And rush back and forth inside the walls; For Malcam will go into exile Together with his priests and his princes.

Amplified Bible
“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai [in Ammon] has been destroyed! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Wrap yourselves with sackcloth and lament (cry out in grief), And rush back and forth inside the enclosures; For Malcam [your powerless god] will go into exile Together with his priests and his princes.

Christian Standard Bible
Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated; cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and lament; run back and forth within your walls, because Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated; cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and lament; run back and forth within your walls, because Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.

American Standard Version
Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth: lament, and run to and fro among the fences; for Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
You shall howl, Kheshbon, because Ai is defeated! Call for help, villages of Rabbath! Put on sackcloth! Mourn and rage among each other, because Malkom shall go into captivity, and his Priests and his Princes as one, says LORD JEHOVAH

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Howl, O Esebon, for Gai has perished; cry, ye daughters of Rabbath, gird yourselves with sack-clothes, and lament; for Melchol shall go into banishment, his priests and his princes together.

Contemporary English Version
Cry, people of Heshbon; your town will become a pile of rubble. You will turn here and there, but your path will be blocked. Put on sackcloth and mourn, you citizens of Rabbah, because the idol you worship will be taken to a foreign country, along with its priests and temple officials.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Howl, O Hesebon, for Hai is wasted. Cry, ye daughters of Rabbath, gird yourselves with haircloth: mourn and go about by the hedges: for Melchom shall be carried into captivity, his priests, and his princes together.

English Revised Version
Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth: lament, and run to and fro among the fences; for Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Cry loudly, Heshbon, because Ai is destroyed. Cry, people of Rabbah, put on your sackcloth, and mourn. Run back and forth between the walls. Milcom will be taken away into captivity with its priests and officials.

Good News Translation
People of Heshbon, cry out! Ai is destroyed! Women of Rabbah, go into mourning! Put on sackcloth and mourn. Run about in confusion. Your god Molech will be taken into exile, together with his priests and princes.

International Standard Version
"Wail, Heshbon, because Ai is destroyed. Cry out, daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth and lament. Run back and forth inside the walls, for Milcom is going into exile along with his priests and his princes.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is undone; Cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; Lament, and run to and fro among the folds; For Malcam shall go into captivity, His priests and his princes together.

Literal Standard Version
Howl, Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled, | Cry, daughters of Rabbah, gird on sackcloth, | Lament, and go to and fro by the hedges, | For Malcam goes into captivity, | His priests and his princes together.

Majority Standard Bible
Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth within your walls, for Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.

New American Bible
Wail, Heshbon, “The ruin is destroyed!” shriek, villages of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and lament! Run back and forth in the sheepfolds. For Milcom is going into exile, taking priest and prince with him.

NET Bible
Wail, you people in Heshbon, because Ai in Ammon is destroyed. Cry out in anguish, you people in the villages surrounding Rabbah. Put on sackcloth and cry out in mourning. Run about covered with gashes. For your god Milcom will go into exile along with his priests and officials.

New Revised Standard Version
Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth, lament, and slash yourselves with whips! For Milcom shall go into exile, with his priests and his attendants.

New Heart English Bible
Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste; cry, you daughters of Rabbah, clothe yourself in sackcloth: lament, and run back and forth among the fences; for Milcom shall go into captivity, his priests and his officials together.

Webster's Bible Translation
Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.

World English Bible
“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourself in sackcloth. Lament, and run back and forth among the fences; for Malcam will go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.

Young's Literal Translation
Howl, Heshbon, for spoiled is Ai, Cry, daughters of Rabbah, gird on sackcloth, Lament, and go to and fro by the hedges, For Malcam into captivity doth go, His priests and his princes together.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Judgment on the Ammonites
2Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned. Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors, says the LORD. 3Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth within your walls, for Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials. 4Why do you boast of your valleys—your valleys so fruitful, O faithless daughter? You trust in your riches and say, ‘Who can come against me?’…

Cross References
Joshua 7:2
Meanwhile, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, "Go up and spy out the land." So the men went up and spied out Ai.

Joshua 8:1
Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

2 Samuel 11:1
In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

Ezra 2:28
the men of Bethel and Ai, 223;

Isaiah 32:11
Shudder, you ladies of leisure; tremble, you daughters of complacency. Strip yourselves bare and put sackcloth around your waists.

Jeremiah 46:25
The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Behold, I am about to punish Amon god of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, Egypt with her gods and kings, and those who trust in Pharaoh.

Jeremiah 48:2
There is no longer praise for Moab; in Heshbon they devise evil against her: 'Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.' You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.


Treasury of Scripture

Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, you daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.

Howl

Jeremiah 48:20
Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,

Jeremiah 51:8
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

Isaiah 13:6
Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

gird

Jeremiah 4:8
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.

Jeremiah 6:26
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

Jeremiah 48:37
For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.

run

Job 30:3-7
For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste…

Isaiah 15:2
He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.

their king.

Jeremiah 49:1
Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?

1 Kings 11:5,33
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites…

Milcom

Zephaniah 1:5
And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;

Malcham

Jeremiah 46:25
The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:

Jeremiah 48:7
For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.

Amos 1:15
And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD.

Jump to Previous
Ai Captivity Cry Daughters Fences Folds Forth Fro Gird Heshbon Howl Laid Malcam Priests Princes Rabbah Run Sackcloth Spoiled Together Undone Wail Waste
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Ai Captivity Cry Daughters Fences Folds Forth Fro Gird Heshbon Howl Laid Malcam Priests Princes Rabbah Run Sackcloth Spoiled Together Undone Wail Waste
Jeremiah 49
1. The judgment of the Ammonites
6. Their restoration
7. The judgment of Edom
23. of Damascus
28. of Kedar
30. of Hazor
34. and of Elam
39. The restoration of Elam














(3) Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled.--Heshbon has appeared in Jeremiah 48:2; Jeremiah 48:45, as connected with the fortunes of Moab, but it was strictly an Ammonite city. The "Ai" here is obviously not the city near Jericho of Joshua 8:28, and unless we assume an error in the text ("Ai" for "Ar"= city), we must infer the existence of a Trans-jordanic city of the same name.

Run to and fro by the hedges.--Hedges, in the English sense of the word, have never been common in the East, and the word here denotes either the palings round the sheep-folds, or the walls round the vineyards of the villages that are described as the "daughters of Rabbah." The word is never used for the walls of a city, but appears in Numbers 22:24; Numbers 32:16; Numbers 32:24; Numbers 32:36 in the sense of "sheep-folds." . . .

Verse 3. - Heshbon. Here mentioned as de jure a Gadite, but de facto an Ammonitish, town; in Numbers 21:26 it appears as "the city of Sihon" the Amorite. In Isaiah 15:4 and Isaiah 16:9 it is reckoned to the Moabites. There was a continual warfare between the neigh-bouring tribes of Reuben and Gad on the one hand, and the Moabites and Ammonites on the other. Let Heshbon lament, because Ai is spoiled. The introduction of At, which is only known to us as a Canaanitish town, near Bethel, on the wrong side of the Jordan for Moab, is startling. It is replied that we have no list of the Ammonitish cities, and that there may have been another town named At. The reply is valid; but loaves a second difficulty untouched, viz. that the mention of a third place destroys the continuity of thought. First, we are made acquainted with the fall of Rabbah; then Heshbon (probably the second place in the country) is called upon to wail because x has been taken by storm; then the populations of the "daughter" cities are summoned to join in the lamentation over Rabbah; - is it not reasonable to conclude that the subject of the mourning is one and the same? Now, it is well known that the received text abounds in small errors arising from the confusion of similar Hebrew letters, and that among the letters most easily confounded are yod and resh. Is it not an obvious conclusion that for Ai we should rather read Ar ("the city"), a name as suitable for the capital of Ammon as for that of Moab? It is true that we have no example elsewhere of Rabbah being called by the name of Ar; but in 2 Samuel 10:3, 14 it is described as "the city," and we have to be on our guard against the argument a silentio - that favourite weapon of destructive criticism! Since a conjecture must be made, it is more respectful to the prophet to choose the one which is most suitable to the context. Daughters of Rabbah; i.e. unwalled towns (as in ver. 2). Run to and fro by the hedges; rather, by the enclosures; i.e. wander about in the open country, seeking a lodging place in the enclosures of the sheepfolds (so Numbers 32:24, Hebrew) or the vineyards (so Numbers 22:24, Hebrew). Their king; or, Milcom (see on ver. 1).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Wail,
הֵילִ֨ילִי (hê·lî·lî)
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - feminine singular
Strong's 3213: To howl, make a howling

O Heshbon,
חֶשְׁבּ֜וֹן (ḥeš·bō·wn)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 2809: Heshbon -- a place East of the Jordan

for
כִּ֣י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

Ai
עַ֗י (‘ay)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 5857: Ai -- a Canaanite city

has been destroyed;
שֻׁדְּדָה־ (šud·də·ḏāh-)
Verb - Pual - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 7703: To deal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruin

cry out,
צְעַקְנָה֮ (ṣə·‘aq·nāh)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine plural
Strong's 6817: To shriek, to proclaim

O daughters
בְּנ֣וֹת (bə·nō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural construct
Strong's 1323: A daughter

of Rabbah!
רַבָּה֒ (rab·bāh)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 7237: Rabbah -- two places in Israel

Put on
חֲגֹ֣רְנָה (ḥă·ḡō·rə·nāh)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine plural
Strong's 2296: To gird, gird on, gird oneself

sackcloth
שַׂקִּ֔ים (śaq·qîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8242: A mesh, coarse loose cloth, sacking, a bag

and mourn;
סְפֹ֕דְנָה (sə·p̄ō·ḏə·nāh)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine plural
Strong's 5594: To tear the hair and beat the breasts, to lament, to wail

run back and forth
וְהִתְשׁוֹטַ֖טְנָה (wə·hiṯ·šō·w·ṭaṭ·nāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Imperative - feminine plural
Strong's 7751: To push forth, to lash, to row, to travel

within your walls,
בַּגְּדֵר֑וֹת (bag·gə·ḏê·rō·wṯ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 1448: Enclosure

for
כִּ֤י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

Molech
מַלְכָּם֙ (mal·kām)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 4428: A king

will go
יֵלֵ֔ךְ (yê·lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

into exile
בַּגּוֹלָ֣ה (bag·gō·w·lāh)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 1473: Exile, exiles

together with
יַחְדָּֽיו׃ (yaḥ·dāw)
Adverb
Strong's 3162: A unit, unitedly

his priests
כֹּהֲנָ֥יו (kō·hă·nāw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3548: Priest

and officials.
וְשָׂרָ֖יו (wə·śā·rāw)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 8269: Chieftain, chief, ruler, official, captain, prince


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 49:3 Wail Heshbon for Ai is laid waste (Jer.)
Jeremiah 49:2
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