Verse 1

Isaiah began by announcing Moab"s certain ruin. The two main cities, Ar on the Arnon and Kir in central Moab, would fall quickly.

Verses 2-4

The Moabites would express great grief over their national defeat. Dibon was the site of a temple to the Moabite god Chemosh. Many of the people would go there to bewail Chemosh"s inability to save them. They would also mourn the loss of the towns of Nebo and Medeba in typical Near Eastern fashion. The residents of Heshbon and Elealeh in the north of Moab would be heard wailing in Jahaz to the south because the noise would be so great. Even soldiers would cry aloud in fear.

Verses 5-9

The Lord also expressed His grief over Moab"s coming judgment through the prophet (cf. Isaiah 21:3-4; Isaiah 22:4; Jeremiah 9:1). Isaiah took up God"s words in his own mouth and represented God"s thoughts and words by using the first person singular (cf. Isaiah 16:9). The Moabite refugees would move from place to place trying to find security. Their movement would be generally south, so the enemy may have descended from the north. The whole country would suffer devastation. Even though people would flee, they would not escape destruction. A lion is frequently an image of a fierce, implacable attacker in biblical poetry ( Isaiah 15:9; cf. Amos 3:12).