Many commentators suggest that this verse is not in its original location. Because its ideas are similar to those expressed in the lament of 15.1-9, they suggest it should come after 15.8 or 15.9. However, there is no textual evidence to support this view, and no major translation attempts to relocate the verse.

The challenge is to explain the unusual contents of verse 2 in the present context. From verse 1 we assume messengers from Moab bring the gift of lambs to Jerusalem. These messengers carry a message to the king of Judah and his people. For most translations their message begins in verse 3 (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation), so verse 2 is regarded as words spoken by the prophet. But for Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch the words of the messengers begin at verse 2, which reads “They [the messengers] will tell him [the king of Judah]: ‘The women of Moab….’ ” We prefer Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch‘s approach to this verse (see the examples below). Whether verse 2 is part of the message from Moab or not, it has to be seen as a poetic description of the situation in Moab. There is panic and confusion. The Moabites wait in panic near the border of Judah, hoping for a positive response to their requests to Judah.

Like fluttering birds, like scattered nestlings, so are the daughters of Moab is literally “and it is like a bird fluttering [from] nest driven out will they be, the daughters of Moab.” The parallel structure of the first two lines in Revised Standard Version and many other English translations is not so obvious. New International Version simply says “Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab.” This is a more accurate rendering. Fluttering implies the birds are just learning to fly. Nestlings are young birds not quite ready for flight. Scattered means they are being driven away from their nest. An alternative model for the first two lines of this verse is “like young birds that are forced to leave their nest.”

Many versions take the daughters of Moab in its literal sense, saying “the women of Moab” (New International Version, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible). However, this phrase refers to all the people of Moab here (so Good News Translation). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh is good with its translation, “Moab’s villagers,” since the expression “daughter of” may refer to the inhabitants of a city, but also to its surrounding villages. Since the daughters of Moab is the subject of the first three lines, many languages will prefer to begin the verse with this phrase (so Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible; see the first example below). The Moabites are in panic like young birds forced from their nests.

At the fords of the Arnon: Fords are shallow parts of a river where people can cross on foot. The Arnon River runs west into the Dead Sea, about halfway down its eastern side. This verse describes the frightened people of Moab fleeing across the river in order to escape the enemy. The implied idea of fleeing may be added by rendering this line as “flee across the Arnon River.”

We suggest the following examples for this verse:

• “The people of Moab are crossing the Arnon River like fluttering birds driven from the nest.

• The messengers say: “Like fluttering birds driven from the nest are the villagers of Moab crossing the Arnon River.

• They say to the people of Judah, “Like fluttering birds driven from the nest, the women of Moab flee across the Arnon River.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .