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Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches that he hath gotten are perished.
Jeremiah 48:36 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished.
  • BSB Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.
  • NKJV Therefore My heart shall wail like flutes for Moab, And like flutes My heart shall wail For the men of Kir Heres. Therefore the riches they have acquired have perished.
  • NASB “Therefore My heart makes a sound like flutes for Moab; My heart also makes a sound like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have lost the abundance it produced.
  • NLT My heart moans like a flute for Moab and Kir-hareseth, for all their wealth has disappeared.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The LORD's heart moans like a flute for Moab and the men of Kir Heres, for their gained wealth has perished.

Overview

God again voices deep lament, His heart sounding like mournful pipes over Moab's loss of all she had amassed. The riches she trusted have vanished. The divine sorrow over perished wealth shows both God's compassion and the emptiness of treasures laid up apart from Him, pointing to the lasting riches found in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • Isa 15:7Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.
  • Isa 16:11Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.
  • Isa 15:5My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.
  • Jas 5:2–3Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
  • Prov 11:4Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
  • Jer 4:19My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
  • Jer 17:11As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
  • Isa 63:15Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?
  • Luke 12:20–21But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
  • Prov 18:11The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit.
  • Eccl 5:13–14There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
  • Prov 13:22A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 48:36YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.

How Jeremiah 48:36 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.