Discovery BoxJeremiah 48:43-44 
Context48:43 Terror, pits, and traps 1 are in store
for the people who live in Moab. 2
I, the Lord, affirm it! 3
48:44 Anyone who flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit.
Anyone who climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a trap. 4
For the time is coming
when I will punish the people of Moab. 5
I, the Lord, affirm it! 6
1 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.
2 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.
3 tn Heb “Oracle of the
4 sn Jer 48:43-44a are in the main the same as Isa 24:17-18 which shows that the judgment was somewhat proverbial. For a very similar kind of argumentation see Amos 5:19; judgment is unavoidable.
5 tn Heb “For I will bring upon her, even upon Moab, the year of her punishment.”
6 tn Heb “Oracle of the
