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Isaiah 15 · a question people ask

Whose heart cries out for Moab (15:5)?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say. It is headed "The burden of Moab" (15:1), one of the burdens in the run that opens "The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw" (Isaiah 13:1). In it a voice says, "My heart cries out for Moab!" (15:5), and the last verse says, "for I will bring yet more on Dimon" (15:9). Neither verse names who speaks, and the chapter doesn't say whether the two are one voice. The next chapter goes on in the same way, "Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah" (Isaiah 16:9), and near its close says, "This is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in time past" (Isaiah 16:13). These notes set out what the verses say and don't name the speaker. What the verse does say is plain: in a burden spoken over Moab, a heart cries out for Moab.

The verses

“The burden of Moab. For in a night, Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing. For in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing.”
Isaiah 15:1 · World English Bible
“The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.”
Isaiah 13:1 · World English Bible
“My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.”
Isaiah 15:5 · World English Bible
“For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will bring yet more on Dimon, a lion on those of Moab who escape, and on the remnant of the land.”
Isaiah 15:9 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 15

Isaiah 15: The burden of Moab

Isaiah's "I am undone" (6:5) is the very verb of Ar and Kir "brought to nothing" (15:1). And in a burden spoken over Moab, the heart that speaks cries out with the same verb as Moab's own towns: "Heshbon cries out" (15:4), "My heart cries out for Moab!" (15:5).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions