Isaiah 15:3
◄  Isaiah 15:3  ►
New International Version (©2011)
In the streets they wear sackcloth; on the roofs and in the public squares they all wail, prostrate with weeping.

New Living Translation (©2007)
They will wear burlap as they wander the streets. From every home and public square will come the sound of wailing.

English Standard Version (©2001)
in the streets they wear sackcloth; on the housetops and in the squares everyone wails and melts in tears.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
In their streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth; On their housetops and in their squares Everyone is wailing, dissolved in tears.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
In its streets they wear sackcloth; on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails, falling down and weeping.

International Standard Version (©2012)
In its streets they wear sackcloth; on its rooftops and in its squares everyone wails and falls down weeping.

NET Bible (©2006)
In their streets they wear sackcloth; on their roofs and in their town squares all of them wail, they fall down weeping.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
In their streets they wear sackcloth. On their roofs and in their city squares everyone wails and cries.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
In their streets they shall clothe themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, everyone shall wail, weeping abundantly.

American King James Version
In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.

American Standard Version
In their streets they gird themselves with sackcloth; on their housetops, and in their broad places, every one waileth, weeping abundantly.

Douay-Rheims Bible
In their streets they are girded with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets all shall howl and come down weeping.

Darby Bible Translation
In their streets they are girded with sackcloth; on their roofs, and in their broadways, every one howleth, melted into tears.

English Revised Version
In their streets they gird themselves with sackcloth: on their housetops, and in their broad places, every one howleth, weeping abundantly.

Webster's Bible Translation
In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.

World English Bible
In their streets, they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping abundantly.

Young's Literal Translation
In its out-places they girded on sackcloth, On its pinnacles, and in its broad places, Every one howleth -- going down with weeping.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:1-9 The Divine judgments about to come upon the Moabites. - This prophecy coming to pass within three years, would confirm the prophet's mission, and the belief in all his other prophecies. Concerning Moab it is foretold, 1. That their chief cities should be surprised by the enemy. Great changes, and very dismal ones, may be made in a very little time. 2. The Moabites would have recourse to their idols for relief. Ungodly men, when in trouble, have no comforter. But they are seldom brought by their terrors to approach our forgiving God with true sorrow and believing prayer. 3. There should be the cries of grief through the land. It is poor relief to have many fellow-sufferers, fellow-mourners. 4. The courage of their soldiers should fail. God can easily deprive a nation of that on which it most depended for strength and defence. 5. These calamities should cause grief in the neighbouring parts. Though enemies to Israel, yet as our fellow-creatures, it should be grievous to see them in such distress. In ver. 6-9, the prophet describes the woful lamentations heard through the country of Moab, when it became a prey to the Assyrian army. The country should be plundered. And famine is usually the sad effect of war. Those who are eager to get abundance of this world, and to lay up what they have gotten, little consider how soon it may be all taken from them. While we warn our enemies to escape from ruin, let us pray for them, that they may seek and find forgiveness of their sins.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - In their streets; literally, in his streets; i.e. the streets of Moab. They shall gird themselves with sackcloth. Another widely spread custom, known to the Assyrians (Jonah 3:5), the Syrians (1 Kings 20:31), the Persians (Esther 4:1, 2), the Israelites (Nehemiah 9:1), and, as we see here, to the Moabites. The modern wearing of black garments, especially crape, is representative of the old practice. Every one shall howl. "Howling" remains one of the chief tokens of mourning in the East. It was a practice of the Egyptians (Herod., 2:79), of the Persians (ibid., 8:99; 9:24), of the Babylonians (Jeremiah 51:8), and probably of the Orientals generally. Weeping abundantly; or, running down with tears (comp. Jeremiah 9:18; Jeremiah 13:17; Herod., 8:99).

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

In their streets they shall girt themselves with sackcloth,.... Instead of their fine clothes, with which they had used to deck themselves, being a very proud people; see Isaiah 16:6 this was usual in times of distress on any account, as well as a token of mourning for the dead; see Joel 1:8. The word for "streets" might be rendered "villages", as distinct from cities, that were "without" the walls of the cities, though adjacent to them; and the rather, seeing mention is made of streets afterwards:

on the tops of their houses; which were made flat, as the houses of the Jews were, on which were battlements, Deuteronomy 22:8 hither they went for safety from their enemies, or to see if they could spy the enemy, or any that could assist them, and deliver them; or rather, hither they went for devotion, to pray to their gods for help; for here it was usual to have altars erected, to burn incense on to their deities; see 2 Kings 23:12 and in such places the people of God were wont to pray, Acts 10:9,

and in their streets; publicly, as well as privately, where they ran up and down to get from the enemy, and save themselves:

everyone shall howl, weeping abundantly: or, "descending with weeping": the tears running down his cheeks in great abundance, so that his whole body was as it were watered with them; or the meaning may be, that everyone that went up to the temples of the idols, and to the high places, Isaiah 15:2 or to the roofs of the houses, as here, to pray the assistance of their gods, should come down weeping and howling, having no success.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. tops of … houses—flat; places of resort for prayer, &c., in the East (Ac 10:9).

weeping abundantly—"melting away in tears." Horsley prefers "descending to weep." Thus there is a "parallelism by alternate construction" [Lowth], or chiasmus; "howl" refers to "tops of houses." "Descending to weep" to "streets" or squares, whither they descend from the housetops.

Isaiah 15:3 Parallel Commentaries

Isaiah 15:3 NIV
Isaiah 15:3 NLT
Isaiah 15:3 ESV
Isaiah 15:3 NASB
Isaiah 15:3 KJV

Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


The Burden Concerning Moab
1The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; 2He 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. 3In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly. …

James 5:1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.
1 Samuel 5:12 Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.
Isaiah 3:24 Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding.
Isaiah 22:1 A prophecy against the Valley of Vision: What troubles you now, that you have all gone up on the roofs,
Isaiah 22:4 Therefore I said, "Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people."
Jeremiah 48:37 Every head is shaved and every beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist is covered with sackcloth.
Jeremiah 48:38 On all the roofs in Moab and in the public squares there is nothing but mourning, for I have broken Moab like a jar that no one wants," declares the LORD.
Lamentations 2:10 The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
Ezekiel 7:18 They will put on sackcloth and be clothed with terror. Every face will be covered with shame, and every head will be shaved.
Amos 8:10 I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
Jonah 3:6 When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.