1. in the night. The Hebrew beleyl announces a kind of phonetic theme because it both alliterates and virtually rhymes with yeyeilil, “wails,” which appears in verses 2 and 3 and then twice (in noun-form) in verse 8.

Ar . . . Qir Moab. These are the first of a whole series of names of Moabite towns, invoked to suggest how sweeping is the destruction that overtakes the entire country.

2. They went up to the temple of Dibon. In their panic and despair, the Moabites spread out to their sundry cult-places in order to entreat their gods to help them.

Every head . . . is shaved. Shaving the hair is a sign of mourning.

4. their life-breath broken up. This verset is quite obscure, and the meaning of the Hebrew verb is especially doubtful.

5. My heart for Moab cries out. This is surely intended as sarcasm because the Israelite speaker is gladdened by the destruction of this traditional enemy of his people.

they go up. The Hebrew has “he goes up.” Vacillation between singular and plural is one of several sources of confusion in this poem.

7. Therefore the gains they have made and their stores. The Hebrew of this verset is crabbed, and hence any translation somewhat conjectural. What seems to be depicted is the Moabites fleeing from their towns before an unnamed enemy, carrying off whatever of their possessions they can manage to bring with them.

the Wadi of Willows. Like many of the place-names in this prophecy, the watercourse in question has resisted identification.

9. yes, I will add still more against Dimon. The Hebrew of this verset as well as its connection with the second verset is obscure. Here is a literal rendering: Yes, I will set against [or upon] Dimon and its things.

for Moab’s survivors, a lion. Numerous emendations have been proposed here, especially for the last word, none very convincing. The language is certainly cryptic but may make sense as it stands in the received text. We know from multiple biblical sources that lions proliferated in this region in the ancient period and were a menace to people and to their flocks. What the writer may have had in mind is that when the desperate Moabites flee from their towns as those towns are sacked by invaders, in the very place where they sought refuge they encounter lions and become their prey. In this understanding, the lions are what God “add[s] still more against Dimon.”