Jeremiah 48
Moab was Israel's neighbour to the east, across the Dead Sea - a people descended from Lot, sharing language and trade and a long, tangled history with the children of Israel, sometimes as kin and far more often as foe. The land was known for its vineyards and its herds, its fortified hill-towns and its settled, prosperous ease. Here, in the longest of his oracles against the surrounding nations, Jeremiah announces that the ease is over. The chapter opens with city after city falling like dominoes - Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kirjathaim is confounded and taken (v. 1) - and the reason is named early: For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken (v. 7). Moab leaned its whole weight on what it had built and stored, and what a nation leans on, it will fall with.3
At the heart of the chapter is a single, unforgettable diagnosis. Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed (v. 11). The picture is drawn from the winemaker's craft. Good wine was poured from jar to jar to leave its bitter sediment - its lees - behind; wine left undisturbed on the dregs grew thick, syrupy, and spoiled. Moab had never been poured out, never unsettled, never sent into the upheaval of exile - and the result was not health but a kind of complacent rot. From that undisturbed ease grew the thing the chapter names again and again: We have heard the pride of Moab; he is exceeding proud (v. 29).
And then the oracle does something that sets it apart from almost every other word of judgment in the prophets. The God who pronounces the doom turns out to grieve over it. Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab… Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes (vv. 31, 36). These are not the words of a distant Judge satisfied to see an enemy fall; they are the words of a heart that mourns even where it must condemn. The chapter gathers up the cry of Moab's ruined cities, the loss of joy from her vineyards, the wailing on her housetops - and the LORD weeps with them. And against all expectation, after forty-six verses of falling cities and broken pride, the very last word is mercy: Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days (v. 47). The oracle that begins in woe ends in hope.
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
Jeremiah 48:1-10Woe Unto Nebo · Trusted in Thy Works
1Against Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kirjathaim is confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed. 2There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee. 3A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim, spoiling and great destruction. 4Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. 5For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction. 6Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness. 7For 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. 8And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD hath spoken. 9Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein. 10Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.
The oracle opens like a tolling bell, naming Moabite towns one after another and pronouncing each one fallen: Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kirjathaim is confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed (v. 1). These are not vague threats but real places on the map - hill-towns and high places a Moabite would have known by heart, where families lived and worked and worshipped. By naming them the prophet makes the judgment concrete and inescapable: it touches actual streets, actual homes. The sentence is total. There shall be no more praise of Moab (v. 2); the spoiler comes upon every city, and no city shall escape (v. 8); even the fertile valley and the broad plain will be laid waste. And through the announcement runs the sound of fleeing - Flee, save your lives (v. 6) - the desperate scramble of a people whose long security has finally cracked open. The God of Israel speaks against a foreign nation here, and the reader is meant to feel how wide His reach is: no border keeps Him out, no people falls outside His government of the world.3
Already in these opening verses the oracle carries a note of pathos that will swell as the chapter goes on. Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard (v. 4). This is not the language of an enemy gloating over a rival's ruin; it is the sound of children crying out as their world collapses. In the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction (v. 5). Up the mountain road and down it, the same sound - weeping. The verses do not flinch from the human cost of judgment, and they do not pretend it is anything other than grievous. There is a hardness in how some hearts greet the downfall of an enemy, a satisfaction that warms itself at another's catastrophe. Scripture refuses that posture even when the judgment is deserved. The cry of Moab's little ones is heard, and it is recorded, and - as the later verses will make startlingly clear - it is grieved. The fall of a proud nation is still the fall of people, and the LORD does not treat it lightly.
At the centre of the opening movement is the reason for the ruin, and it is worth weighing carefully: 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 (v. 7). Two things had become Moab's confidence - its works, the fortifications and achievements it had raised with its own hands, and its treasures, the wealth it had piled up over generations of ease. Both are about to be stripped away, and with them goes Chemosh, the national god, carried off into captivity alongside the priests who served him. There is a quiet exposure here of what idolatry actually is. A god who can be loaded onto a cart and hauled into exile is no god at all; he could not save the people who trusted him, because he was only the projection of their own strength and wealth. What a nation truly worships is whatever it leans its weight on for safety - and Moab had leaned on its walls, its riches, and a deity that was finally just a mascot for both. When the test came, every one of those supports gave way at once.
Verse 10 has unsettled readers for centuries, and it deserves to be read in its setting rather than torn out of it: Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood (v. 10). The verse is not a general endorsement of violence; it is spoken to the army the LORD has appointed to carry out this particular judgment on Moab, warning them not to perform their commissioned task half-heartedly or treacherously. Behind the specific charge lies a principle that runs all through Scripture: God will not be served with a divided heart. To do the work of the LORD deceitfully is to go through the motions while holding something back - to say yes with the mouth and no with the will, to serve with one eye always on personal advantage. That kind of half-measure is named here under a curse. The God who searches hearts is not deceived by the appearance of obedience; He looks for the wholehearted thing. The verse's hard edge, read rightly, cuts not toward bloodthirst but toward integrity: whatever God has actually given a person to do, He asks that it be done truly, and not feigned.1
Jeremiah 48:11-20Moab Hath Been at Ease From His Youth
11Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. 12Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles. 13And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence. 14How say ye, We are mighty and strong men for the war? 15Moab is spoiled, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. 16The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast. 17All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod! 18Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds. 19O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done? 20Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,
Here is the verse the whole chapter turns on, and one of the most penetrating descriptions of a comfortable life in all of Scripture: Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed (v. 11). The image comes straight from the winemaker's cellar. New wine was poured from one jar to another, again and again, to leave behind the lees - the thick sediment that settles to the bottom. Wine left undisturbed on its dregs did not improve; it grew syrupy, heavy, and finally spoiled. Moab, the prophet says, is wine that was never poured out. Untroubled from his youth, never carried into the upheaval of exile as Israel and Judah had been, the nation had simply sat - and so his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. That sounds at first like a compliment, even a blessing: stability, continuity, an unbroken life. It is in fact the diagnosis of a disease. The very absence of disturbance had let Moab settle and thicken on its own sediment until what remained was not maturity but staleness, not strength but a complacent, unexamined pride. Comfort, prolonged and undisturbed, had quietly gone to rot.1
The undisturbed wine is about to be disturbed at last. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles (v. 12). The metaphor of verse 11 is carried right through: the LORD will do to Moab exactly what the winemaker does to the settled jar - pour it out, empty it, and shatter the very containers that had held it so comfortably in place. And the false confidence collapses with it. Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence (v. 13); the boast We are mighty and strong men for the war (v. 14) is answered flatly by the fact on the ground - his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts (v. 15). There is a sober mercy hidden in the breaking. The pouring-out Moab so dreaded was the only thing that could have unsettled the sediment of its pride. What looks like sheer catastrophe - vessels emptied, bottles broken, the comfortable life smashed open - is the very thing that exposes how false the old security always was. A jar that is never poured is a jar whose spoilage is never seen.
The section ends in a sustained lament over a greatness suddenly gone. All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod! (v. 17). The staff and the rod are emblems of authority and stately power - the scepter of a kingdom that once stood firm and looked magnificent. Now it lies snapped. The proud city of Dibon is told, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst (v. 18) - descend from your high seat and take the place of the captive. The watcher at Aroer is told to stand by the road and question the refugees streaming past: ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done? (v. 19). The answer comes back as a single shattering word repeated: Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry… that Moab is spoiled (v. 20). What strikes most about these verses is how much room they give to grief. A lesser oracle would simply announce the verdict and move on. This one lingers, calls the neighbours to mourn, stations a watcher to take in the loss verse by verse - as though the fall of even a proud and stubborn nation were something to be wept over rather than cheered.
Jeremiah 48:21-39The Pride of Moab · Mine Heart Shall Sound Like Pipes
21And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath, 22And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Bethdiblathaim, 23And upon Kirjathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmeon, 24And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. 25The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD. 26Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision. 27For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy. 28O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth. 29We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart. 30I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it. 31Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres. 32O 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 spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. 33And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting. 34From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate. 35Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense to his gods. 36Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches that he hath gotten are perished. 37For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth. 38There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the LORD. 39They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him.
The judgment now sweeps across the whole map of Moab in a long roll-call of towns - upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath… upon Dibon, and upon Nebo… and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near (vv. 21-24). The list is deliberately exhaustive: north and south, near and far, no town omitted, so that no reader can imagine some safe corner the spoiler will overlook. Then the picture sharpens into two stark images. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken (v. 25) - the horn being the symbol of a nation's strength and dignity, the arm the symbol of its power to act and defend. Both are severed at a stroke; Moab is left without might and without honour. The second image is harsher still: Make ye him drunken… Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision (v. 26). The proud nation, which had so often poured scorn on others, is pictured staggering and sick like a drunkard sprawled in his own filth - stripped of all dignity, an object of the very mockery it used to deal out. It is a grim picture, and an honest one. Pride that looked down on everyone is brought, in the end, into the dust where it can look down on no one.
Here the oracle names the root sin behind the whole judgment, and it names it with a heaping insistence: We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart (v. 29). The sheer pile-up of words - pride… loftiness… arrogancy… pride… haughtiness - is the point: this was no minor flaw but a settled posture of the soul, an exceeding and many-layered self-exaltation. And verse 26 had already shown what it ultimately was, beneath the surface: Moab magnified himself against the LORD. That is what pride always finally is. It begins as looking down on neighbours - and the text recalls how Moab had gloated over fallen Israel: was not Israel a derision unto thee?… thou skippedst for joy (v. 27) - but it ends as standing tall against God Himself. This is the bitter fruit of the lees Moab had settled on. Comfort undisturbed had bred a confidence undisturbed, and confidence undisturbed had swollen into a heart that bowed to no one, not even its Maker. The same warning sounds all through Scripture: Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall (Prov. 16:18); God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble (James 4:6). Moab is what an unhumbled heart becomes when nothing ever forces it low.1
And now the oracle turns on a hinge that almost nothing prepares us for. The same LORD who has just exposed Moab's arrogance and pronounced its doom begins, suddenly, to weep over it. Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres (v. 31). O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer (v. 32). And again, unforgettably: Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes… for the men of Kirheres (v. 36) - the heart of God moaning like the wailing flutes played at a funeral. This is the surprise at the centre of the chapter, and it must not be rushed past. The God of Israel is grieving over a pagan enemy - a nation that had mocked His people, exalted itself against Him, and earned every word of the judgment now falling on it. He does not gloat. He laments. The verses pour out the picture of loss: joy and gladness gone from the fertile fields (v. 33), the winepresses silent where the harvest songs used to ring, mourning on every housetop (v. 38), heads shaved and bodies in sackcloth (v. 37). And over all of it, the divine heart sounds like funeral pipes. Here is something the surface of an oracle of doom would never lead us to expect: that judgment, even deserved judgment, even judgment on an enemy, grieves the heart of the One who must carry it out.
Jeremiah 48:40-47Yet Will I Bring Again the Captivity of Moab
40For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab. 41Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. 42And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD. 43Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD. 44He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. 45They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. 46Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives. 47Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
The oracle gathers its force for a final sweep. Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab (v. 40) - the conquering enemy descends like a bird of prey, swift and unescapable, its wings blotting out the sky over the doomed land. The strongest hearts melt: the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs (v. 41), seized by a terror they cannot master. And once more the cause is set down plainly, the same cause named back in verse 26: Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD (v. 42). The whole catastrophe traces back to that one root - a creature exalting itself against its Creator. Then comes a proverb of inescapable doom, grim in its symmetry: Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee… He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare (vv. 43-44). Three terrors, and no way through. Run from the first and the second swallows you; climb out of the second and the third catches you. It is a picture of judgment that cannot be dodged once it is truly deserved - the year of their visitation has come, and there is no exit door.
And then, after forty-six verses of falling cities and broken pride and inescapable snares, the chapter ends on a word no one reading the oracle of doom could have predicted: Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD (v. 47). The single word Yet turns everything. After all the woe, after the people of Chemosh perisheth (v. 46), after sons and daughters carried off as captives - yet. The same LORD who poured Moab out and broke its vessels will, in the latter days, gather and restore it. This is the deepest reason for the grief that ran through the middle of the chapter. The God who wept over Moab was never finished with Moab. Judgment, in His hand, is not the last word even for a pagan enemy that magnified itself against Him; mercy is. The line Thus far is the judgment of Moab closes the oracle like the lid of a book - thus far, and no further; the judgment has an end, and beyond its end lies restoration. That a word of hope should be granted to Moab, of all nations, is its own quiet astonishment - and it points beyond itself to a mercy wider than Israel's borders, a grace that the Gospel will one day pour out on all the nations of the earth.2
Further study
- The Hebrew text of Jeremiah 48 with Rashi, Radak, and other classical commentators side by side - useful for the wine-and-sediment image of verse 11 (shamar al-shemarav, “settled on his lees”), for the verb of lament in verses 31 and 36 (hamah, the LORD's heart that “sounds” or moans), and for the recurring charge of ga'avah (pride) in verses 26 and 29.
- Jeremiah 48 ↔ Luke 19 · 2 Peter 3 · Ruth · Matthew 1Intertextual BibleTraces the threads tying Jeremiah 48 to the rest of Scripture - the LORD's grief over a nation He must judge (vv. 31, 36) read alongside the Christ who wept over the city (Luke 19:41) and the God not willing that any should perish (2 Pet. 3:9), and the final mercy promised to Moab (v. 47) read beside the Moabitess Ruth gathered into the line of David and of Christ (Ruth 1:16; Matt. 1:5).
- Jeremiah 48 - Translators' NotesNET BibleThe NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Jeremiah 48 - the many Moabite place-names of verses 1-5 and 21-24, the winemaking metaphor of verse 11, the difficult lines on Moab's pride in verses 29-30, and the much-discussed promise of restoration in the closing verse.
Where this echoes in Scripture
Woe Unto Nebo · Trusted in Thy Works
- Luke 12:19-20Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease... But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.The man at ease in his stored-up wealth - Moab’s misplaced trust of verse 7 drawn to the life.
- Proverbs 11:28He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.The principle beneath verse 7 - treasure leaned on as security gives way.
- Isaiah 16:6We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath.An earlier oracle naming the same pride that this chapter exposes (cf. v. 29).
- Psalm 20:7Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.The contrast Moab failed - confidence in works and treasures (v. 7) versus confidence in the LORD.
- Colossians 3:23And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.The wholehearted service verse 10 demands - nothing done for God deceitfully or held back.
Moab Hath Been at Ease From His Youth
- 1 Peter 1:6-7though now... ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith... might be found unto praise and honour and glory.The trial that purifies - the pouring-out Moab never had (v. 11), turned to a believer’s good.
- Zephaniah 1:12I will punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.The same image of verse 11 - comfort settled on its dregs until it forgets God.
- John 15:2every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.The purging that produces growth - the opposite of being left to settle on the lees (v. 11).
- Hebrews 12:11no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.Why God empties the vessel (v. 12) - the grievous disturbance that ripens into righteousness.
- Isaiah 25:6a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.The other side of the image - wine on the lees made rich and <em>well refined</em>, not left to spoil.
The Pride of Moab · Mine Heart Shall Sound Like Pipes
- Luke 19:41And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it.The heart of verses 31 and 36 in flesh - the Lord weeping over the city He must give up to judgment.
- Ezekiel 33:11I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.Why the LORD’s heart sounds like pipes (v. 36) - He takes no delight in the judgment He sends.
- Proverbs 16:18Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.The principle beneath verse 29 - the exceeding pride of Moab running ahead of its fall.
- James 4:6God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.The two postures the chapter sets side by side - the haughty heart of verse 29 against the humble one.
- Hosea 11:8How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?... mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.The same grieving divine heart as verses 31 and 36 - God anguished over the people He must judge.
Yet Will I Bring Again the Captivity of Moab
- Ruth 1:16Intreat me not to leave thee... thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.The Moabitess who clung to the God of Israel - the mercy of verse 47 taking flesh in a single life.
- Matthew 1:5-6and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat David the king.A daughter of Moab written into the line of the Messiah - how far the grace of verse 47 reaches.
- Genesis 12:3and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.The promise behind Moab’s <em>Yet</em> (v. 47) - a blessing meant for every family of the earth.
- John 10:16And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring.The outward reach of the same mercy - grace gathering those beyond the borders, as promised to Moab in verse 47.
- Jeremiah 46:26and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.The same surprising pattern in a neighbouring oracle - judgment on a nation, then a word of restoration beyond it.