Isaiah 16:11

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁶We have heard of Moab's pride, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty. ⁷Therefore let Moab wail; let them wail together for Moab. Mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, you who are utterly stricken. ⁸For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines that reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots spread out and reached the sea. ⁹So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest. ¹⁰Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards. No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses; I have put an end to the cheering. ¹¹Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-hareseth.¹²When Moab appears on the high place, when he wearies himself and enters his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good. ¹³This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab. ¹⁴And now the LORD says, "In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab's splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

my: Isaiah 15:5, Isaiah 63:15, Jeremiah 4:19, Jeremiah 31:20, Jeremiah 48:36, Hosea 11:8, Philippians 2:1

Kirharesh: Isaiah 16:7, Kir-hareseth

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 3:25 - Kirharaseth Isaiah 15:1 - Kir Isaiah 21:3 - are Lamentations 1:20 - my bowels Ezekiel 21:6 - with the Philippians 1:8 - in

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
But God replied, "Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Exodus 3:7
The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.

Exodus 3:9
And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.

1 Samuel 1:20
So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked for him from the LORD."

Job 38:41
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?

Psalms 22:24
For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He has not hidden His face from him, but has attended to his cry for help.

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and she will call Him Immanuel.

Luke 1:13
But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.

Luke 1:31
Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus.

Luke 1:63
Zechariah asked for a tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And they were all amazed.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab,.... Making a noise as the harp does, and a mournful one as that, when used at funerals; which it makes when it is stricken or played on with the hand, as these were, through the afflictive and punitive hand of God; and which, when stricken, causes a quavering of the strings, to which the inward trembling of the bowels is compared, and is very expressive of the prophet's sympathy, or those he personates; for, when one string of the harp is touched, the rest sound. For these words, as Kimchi says, are spoken in the language of the Moabites; those that survived lamenting the desolate state of their country, which must be very great and affecting; and to show that it was so is the design of the prophet's expressing himself after this manner; for if it was painful to him, it must be much more so to them; so the Targum,

"wherefore the bowels of the Moabites shall sound as a harp;''

of the sounding of the bowels, see Isaiah 63:15:

and mine inward parts for Kirharesh: the same with Kirhareseth,

Isaiah 16:7 which being a principal city, the destruction of it was greatly laid to heart. The Targum is,

"and their heart shall grieve for the men of the city of their strength;''

it being a strong city, in which they placed their confidence; but being destroyed, and the inhabitants of it, it was very affecting, to which agrees Jeremiah 48:31.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wherefore my bowels - This is also an expression of the deep grief of the prophet in view of the calamities which were coming upon Moab. The “bowels” in the Scriptures are everywhere represented as the seat of compassion, pity, commiseration, and tender mercy Genesis 43:30 : ‘His bowels did yearn upon his brother’ - he deeply felt for him, he greatly pitied him 1 Kings 3:26; Psalms 25:6; Proverbs 12:10; Song of Solomon 5:4; Isaiah 63:15; Jeremiah 4:19; Jeremiah 31:20; Philippians 1:8; Philippians 2:1. In classic writers, the word ‘bowels’ denotes the “upper” viscera of victims - the heart, the lungs, the liver, which were eaten during or after the sacrifice (Robinson, “Lex.,” on the word σπλάγχνον splangchnon). In the Scriptures, it denotes the “inward parts” - evidently also the upper viscera, regarded as the seat of the emotions and passions. The word as we use it - denoting the lower “viscera” - by no means expresses the sense of the word in the Scriptures, and it is this change in the signification which renders the use of the very language of the Bible unpleasant or inappropriate. We express the idea by the use of the word “heart” - the seat of the affections.

Shall sound like an harp - The “bowels” are represented in the Scriptures as affected in various modes in the exercise of pity or compassion. Thus, in Lamentations 1:20, Jeremiah says, ‘My bowels are troubled’ (see Lamentations 2:1; Jeremiah 31:20). Job Job 30:27, says, ‘My bowels boiled, and rested not;’ there was great agitation; deep feeling. Thus, Jeremiah 4:19 :

My bowels! My bowels! I am pained at my very heart.

My heart “maketh a noise” in me.

So Isaiah 63:15 : ‘Where is the sounding of thy bowels and mercies?’ The word ‘sound’ here means to make a tumultuous noise; and the whole expression here denotes that his heart was affected with the calamities of Moab as the strings of the harp vibrate when beaten with the plectrum or the band. His heart was deeply pained and affected by the calamities of Moab, and responded to those calamities, as the strings of the harp did to the blow of the plectrum.

Mine inward parts - The expressions used here are somewhat analogous to ours of the “beating of the heart,” to denote deep emotion. Forster says of the savages of the South Sea that they call compassion “a barking of the bowels.”

For Kirharesh - (See the note at Isaiah 16:7.)