Isaiah 16:6

We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) We have heard of the pride of Moab . . .—The hopes of the prophet are clouded by the remembrance of the characteristic sin of Moab. Of this the Moabite Inscription gives sufficient evidence. (See Notes on Isaiah 15) Isaiah’s language finds an echo in Jeremiah 48:29.

But his lies shall not be so.—Better, “his lies, or boasts, are of no worth,” are “not so” as they seem to be.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 16:6-7. We have heard of the pride of Moab, &c. — The prophet, having spoken to the Moabites, now turns his speech to God’s people. The sense is, I do not expect that my counsels will have any good effect upon Moab; they will still carry themselves insolently and outrageously. His lies shall not be so — His vain imaginations, and false and crafty counsels, shall not take effect. Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab — One Moabite shall howl or lament to or for another; for the foundations of Kir-hareseth — An ancient and eminent city of Moab, called Kir, Isaiah 15:1, and Kir-haresh, Isaiah 16:11, which was preserved when their other cities were ruined, and therefore the destruction of it was more lamented. Surely they are stricken — Or broken, overthrown or destroyed.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:6-14 Those who will not be counselled, cannot be helped. More souls are ruined by pride than by any other sin whatever. Also, the very proud are commonly very passionate. With lies many seek to gain the gratification of pride and passion, but they shall not compass proud and angry projects. Moab was famous for fields and vineyards; but they shall be laid waste by the invading army. God can soon turn laughter into mourning, and joy into heaviness. In God let us always rejoice with holy triumph; in earthly things let us always rejoice with holy trembling. The prophet looks with concern on the desolations of such a pleasant country; it causes inward grief. The false gods of Moab are unable to help; and the God of Israel, the only true God, can and will make good what he has spoken. Let Moab know her ruin is very near, and prepare. The most awful declarations of Divine wrath, discover the way of escape to those who take warning. There is no escape, but by submission to the Son of David, and devoting ourselves to him. And, at length, when the appointed time comes, all the glory, prosperity, and multitude of the wicked shall perish.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

We have heard of the pride of Moab - We Jews; we have "all" heard of it; that is, we "know" that he is proud. The evident design of the prophet here is, to say that Moab was so proud, and was well known to be so haughty, that he would "reject" this counsel. He would neither send the usual tribute to the land of Judea Isaiah 16:1, thus acknowledging his dependence on them; nor would he give protection to the exiled Jews as they should wander through his land, and "thus" endeavor to conciliate their favor, and secure their friendship. As a consequence of this, the prophet proceeds to state that heavy judgments would come upon Moab as a nation.

He is very proud - The same thing is stated in the parallel place in Jeremiah 48:29 (compare Isaiah 16:11). Moab was at ease; he was confident in his security; he feared nothing; he sought "no" means, therefore, of securing the friendship of the Jews.

And his wrath - As the result of pride and haughtiness. Wrath or indignation is excited in a proud man when he is opposed, and when the interests of others are not made to give way to his.

But his lies shall not be so - The Hebrew phrase (לא־כן lo' kên) - 'not so' here seems to be used in the sense of 'not right;' 'not firm, or established;' that is, his vain boasting, his false pretensions, his "lies" shall not be confirmed, or established; or they shall be vain and impotent. In the parallel place in Jeremiah, it is, 'But it shall not be so; his lies shall not effect it.' The word rendered 'his lies' here (בדיו badāyv), means his boasting, or vain and confident speaking. In Isaiah 44:25, it is connected with the vain and confident responses of diviners and soothsayers. Here it means that Moab boasted of his strength and security, and did not feel his need of the friendship of the Jews; but that his security was false, and that it should not result according to his expectations. That Moab was proud, is also stated in Isaiah 25:8; and that he was disposed to give vent to his pride by reproaching the people of God, is apparent from Zechariah 2:8 :

I have heard the reproach of Moab,

And the revilings of the children of Ammon,

Whereby they have reproached my people,

And boasted themselves upon their border.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. We—Jews. We reject Moab's supplication for his pride.

lies—false boasts.

not be so—rather, "not right"; shall prove vain (Isa 25:10; Jer 48:29, 30; Zep 2:8). "It shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The prophet, having spoken to the Moabites, and acquainted them with their duty and interest, now he turneth his speech to God’s people, whom he armeth and comforteth against their approaching misery. The scope and sense of the prophet in this verse is this, I do not expect that my counsels will have any good effect upon Moab, they will still carry themselves insolently and outrageously towards you, and they promise themselves that they shall now effect what they have long desired, even satisfy their malice in your total and final destruction; but they shall be disappointed of their hopes. It is well known to me, and you, and all their neighbours, that they are a haughty and furious people; and therefore they will scorn my advice, and doubt not to stand upon their own legs.

His lies shall not be so; his vain imaginations, and false and crafty counsel, shall not take effect. But the words are and may be otherwise rendered, but his strength (as this word is rendered, Job 18:13; Heb. bars, which are the strength of gates or doors) is not so; not equal to his pride or fury. Or thus, exactly according to the words and order of the Hebrew text, not so lies. A concise speech, such as are very common in this and other prophets. And these words may possibly be brought in as the words of the Moabites, making this short reply to the prophet’s counsels and threatenings, directed to them in the foregoing verses of this chapter: It is not or shall not be so as thou sayest; thy words are but lies, we fear not thy threats against us. But this I propose with submission.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

We have heard of the pride of Moab,.... These are the words of the prophet, either in the name of the Lord, or in the person of the Jews, or of other nations, who had heard very frequently, and from many persons, and from every quarter, of the excessive pride of this people, and had many instances of it related to them, which foretold their ruin; for pride comes before a fall:

(he is very proud): though his original was so base and infamous; and therefore there is little reason to hope or expect that he would take the advice above given him, or do the good offices for the Jews he was exhorted to; his pride was such, that he would despise the counsel of God, and would never stoop to do any favour for his people:

even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath; of his contempt of the people of God, and his wrath against them:

but his lies shall not be so; or, "his strength" shall "not be so" (b); as his wrath: he shall not be able to do what in his pride and wrath he said he would do; all his wicked thoughts and devices, all his haughty and wrathful expressions, will signify nothing; they will all be of no effect, for God resisteth the proud, see Jeremiah 48:30. It may be rendered, "not right", that of "his diviners" (c); their words and works, what they say or do; so the word is used in Isaiah 44:25.

(b) "non sicut, fortitudo ejus"; so some in Vatablus. (c) "non rectum divinorum ejus", Vitringa.

Geneva Study Bible

We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his {f} lies shall not be so.

(f) Their vain confidence and proud bragging will deceive them, Jer 48:2.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. (Jeremiah 48:29-30.) The prayer is rejected. The writer, speaking in the name of his countrymen, exposes the hollowness of Moab’s professions of allegiance and submission, as altogether opposed to the arrogant spirit for which the nation was notorious. On the pride of Moab cf. (besides Jeremiah 48:29) ch. Isaiah 25:11; Zephaniah 2:8. The national spirit has found an enduring monument in the inscription of the Moabite Stone.

but his lies shall not be so] Better: the unreality of his pratings (a contemptuous word, cf. ch. Isaiah 44:25). R.V. “his boastings are nought.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - We have heard of the pride of Moab. A new section commences. Moab has not accepted the offer of mercy made in vers. 1-5, and is therefore denounced afresh. Her "pride" prevented her from renewing her subjection to the house of David, and therefore it is her pride which is specially condemned. His lies shall not be so; rather, of no worth are his boast-tags. The result will not correspond with them. Isaiah 16:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But if Moab does this, and the law of the history of Israel, which is that "a remnant shall return," is thus reflected in the history of Moab; Isaiah 16:6 cannot possibly contain the answer which Moab receives from Zion, as the more modern commentators assume according to an error that has almost become traditional. On the contrary, the prophecy enters here upon a new stage, commencing with Moab's sin, and depicting the fate of Moab in still more elegiac strains. "We have heard of the pride of Moab, the very haughty (pride), his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath, the falsehood of his speech." The future self-humiliation of Moab, which would be the fruit of its sufferings, is here contrasted with the previous self-exaltation, of which these sufferings were the fruit. "We have heard," says the prophet, identifying himself with his people. Boasting pompousness has hitherto been the distinguishing characteristic of Moab in relation to the latter (see Isaiah 25:11). The heaping up of words of the same verbal stem (cf., Isaiah 3:1) is here intended to indicate how thoroughly haughty was their haughtiness (cf., Romans 7:13, "that sin might become exceeding sinful"), and how completely it had taken possession of Moab. It boasted and was full of rage towards Israel, to which, so far as it retained its consciousness of the truth of Jehovah, the talk of Moab (בדיו from בדד equals בדא, בטא, to talk at random) must necessarily appear as לא־כן, not-right, i.e., at variance with fact. These expressions of opinion had been heard by the people of God, and, as Jeremiah adds in Jeremiah 48:29-30, by Israel's God as well.