“Says Yahweh.
‘I have sworn
By myself
That Bozrah
Shall become
An object
Of horror,
Of ridicule,
Of a waste,
Of cursing.
All her towns
Shall be
Perpetual wastes.’”
Bozrah was the capital city of Edom in northern Edom, modern day Jordan. Yahweh swore to himself that this capital of the Edomites would become an object of horror, a place of ridicule and a waste, as well as a cursed place. All its surrounding towns would become perpetual waste sites.
“Heshbon cries out.
Elealeh cries out.
As far as Jahaz,
They utter their voice,
From Zoar
To Horonaim,
To Eglath-shelishiyah.
Even the waters of Nimrim
Have become desolate.”
This continues with the same ideas as in Isaiah, chapter 15. Everybody was crying out from the towns of Heshbon and Elealeh, in the Israelite Reuben territory, upper Moab. This crying could be heard 25 miles away north in Jahaz, a Levitical city near Gilead that was given to Gad in Joshua, chapter 21. These Moabite fugitives fled south to the tip of the Dead Sea near Zoar, which is on the southeast end of the Dead Sea. They also fled to the surrounding towns of Eglath-shelishiyah and Horonaim, near the ascent of the Luhith hills, in southern Moab near Zoar. The cries of the Moabites could be heard everywhere. The waters of Nimrim were desolate with nothing growing beside it. Only Jeremiah and Isaiah make any reference to these waters of Nimrim.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 