complete verse (Jeremiah 48:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 48:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “Prepare for Moab a cave where it may be buried,
    because it is being destroyed,
    its cities will be torn down
    to become desolate so that no one shall ever go and live there.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Only [if] Moab would have wings so that she/he can-fly away, for its towns will- no-longer -be-inhabited and it will-became desolate/lonely.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Spread salt on the ground
    in order that it will become a wasteland with nothing growing there any more,
    and no one will be living in it!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 48:9

Give wings to Moab, for she would fly away: There are several problems here:
(1) There is scarcely any evidence that the Hebrew word rendered wings (tsits) ever had this meaning. Rather, it may mean “blossom” (Num 17.8), “[artificial] flower” (1Kgs 6.18), or “ornament” (Exo 28.36; Revised Standard Version “plate”). A related Hebrew word tsiun may mean either “stone landmark” (Ezek 39.15; Revised Standard Version “sign”), “roadmark” (31.21; Revised Standard Version “waymarks”), or “gravestone” (2Kgs 23.17; Revised Standard Version “monument”). This is the basis for Good News Translation “Set up a tombstone for Moab.” Some scholars maintain that the Hebrew word tsiun may also mean “sign,” which is the basis for Revised English Bible “Give a warning signal to Moab.” Finally, on the basis of a Ugaritic text, some scholars conclude that tsits means “salt” and so translate “Give salt for Moab” (with the meaning “Cover Moab’s cities with salt”; see Jdg 9.45).
(2) Some scholars trace the two Hebrew verb forms rendered fly away by Revised Standard Version to a verb that means “be destroyed”; this is the basis for renderings such as “she will be laid waste” (New International Version) and “she will be laid in ruins” (Revised English Bible). However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project proposes the meaning of “fly away.” If this recommendation is accepted, then “fly away” would be understood with the meaning “escape.”

For the first two lines of this verse New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders:

• Give wings to Moab,
For she must go hence.
Note: “Meaning of Hebrew uncertain.”

Obviously translators have to choose among these interpretations. It is a good idea to try to link the two lines meaningfully, although they seem incompatible. In addition to the translations cited above, translators can consider the following: “Set up a tombstone for Moab, for that country will be destroyed”; “Set up a tombstone for Moab, who tries to fly away”; “Mark out the road well for Moab, who is trying to escape”; and “Spread salt on the ground for Moab, for Moab will become a wasteland.”

Desolation: As elsewhere in Jeremiah, this means “ruins.” See “waste” in 2.15.

With no inhabitant in them; that is, “there will be no one living there.” See 2.15.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .