Verses 8-10 deal with the destruction of Moab’s fields and vineyards. The place names in verses 8-9 form a chiasmus: Heshbon > [vine of] Sibmah > Jazer > < Jazer < [vine of] Sibmah < Heshbon [and Elealeh]. The connector For renders the Hebrew particle ki. It introduces more reasons for Moab to mourn.

The fields of Heshbon languish: Crops growing in the fields or “farms” (Good News Translation) around the town of Heshbon are dried up (compare 15.6). For Heshbon see 15.4. The Hebrew term rendered languish describes something that is weak or feeble. Here it means “wither” (so New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), but Good News Translation says “are destroyed” (similarly Bible en français courant).

And the vine of Sibmah refers to the vineyards of the Moabite town of Sibmah. Vine is singular, but many translations render it as a plural, saying “vines” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version) or “vineyards” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). For “vineyard” see the comments on 1.8. The verb languish in the previous line also applies to this line. Both the fields of Heshbon and the vineyards of Sibmah withered.

The rest of the verse describes the vine, saying its branches previously spread throughout Moab. Most translations, including Good News Translation, understand this as a hyperbole about the vineyards of Sibmah. However, within the Old Testament a vine or vineyard can represent a nation (see, for example, 5.1-7). Here the vine of Sibmah may represent all the people of Moab. We recommend keeping the idea of the vine, but adding the following footnote: “Here the vine could be a figure for the people of Moab.”

The lords of the nations have struck down its branches: The lords of the nations refers to the leaders of the nations surrounding Moab. Its branches means the branches or tendrils of the grape vines. Both Revised English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible render the Hebrew word for branches as “red grapes.” They base their translation on the fact that the underlying Hebrew root can mean “become red” in some related languages. Commentators and translators have understood this clause in rather different ways. It is literally “lords of nations struck down its branches/tendrils.” Some believe “lords of nations” is the subject and “its branches” is the object (Revised Standard Version, New International Version), while others take “its branches” as the subject and “lords of the nations” as the object. New American Bible takes this latter view, saying “Whose clusters overpowered the lords of the nations,” which means the wine from Moab’s vineyards made the leaders of other nations drunk (so Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant). We prefer “lords of the nations” as the subject. It would be unusual in Hebrew for an object to precede the verb, but a subject may precede the verb if attention is being drawn to it in a special way, as is the case here. This clause is saying the leaders of other nations destroyed the vineyards of Moab.

Which reached to Jazer and strayed to the desert: The vines extended as far as the Moabite town of Jazer, which was probably located on the northeastern tip of the Dead Sea. The Hebrew verb rendered reached is literally “touched” or “extended as far as.” Strayed to the desert pictures the vines spreading to desert areas. If vine is a metaphor here, it describes the Moabites living near the desert.

Its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea: Its shoots refers to new growth on the vines. The sea is probably the Dead Sea. The vines spread across the Dead Sea to its western side (so Good News Translation). For passed over the sea, New International Version has “went as far as the sea,” but the Hebrew verb here generally implies crossing over or going beyond some point.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• For the crops in the fields of Heshbon wither,
so too the vine of Sibmah;
the leaders of the nations have struck down its branches
that used to extend to Jazer and to the desert,
and whose new branches spread out and crossed the sea.

• For the crops in Heshbon’s fields have dried up along with the vine of Sibmah.
The leaders of other nations have cut down its branches,
branches that extended as far as Jazer and the desert,
and whose new growth spread out and crossed the Dead Sea.

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 .