The people fleeing past Aroer now reply. To make this clear, Good News Translation has “they will answer.”

Moab is put to shame, for it is broken: See verse 1. Put to shame can be “humiliated” or “disgraced.” The verb rendered broken is first used in 1.17, where it is rendered “dismayed” by Revised Standard Version; here it means “conquered.” New Jerusalem Bible renders the two verbs as “shattered and shamed.” Notice how Good News Translation has restructured the first two lines: “ ‘Moab has fallen,’ they will answer, ‘weep for it; it is disgraced.’ ” It is also possible to say “They answer, ‘Weep and cry for Moab, for it has been defeated and totally humiliated.’ ”

For wail see 4.8.

Tell it by the Arnon may be rendered “Announce the news beside the Arnon River.” Arnon is the river that forms the northern boundary of Moab (see verse 19).

Laid waste is the verb first used in 4.13, where Revised Standard Version has “ruined”; it also occurs in verse 1 of this chapter.

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 .