1. Send a lamb / to the ruler of the land. The Hebrew is very cryptic. This translation is based on the guess that the ruler of the land is the governing power in Judah and that the fugitive Moabites are obliged to turn to the Judahites for help. The lamb would be some kind of tribute. But whatever historical circumstance may be invoked here is highly uncertain. Verses 3–4 appear to be an injunction to take in Moabite refugees.

3. Make your shade like the night. “Shade” here is used in its frequent metaphoric sense of “protection.”

5. a throne is set firm in kindness / and on it shall sit in truth. This line shows the device of the “break-up pattern” in which the two terms of a hendiadys are separated and placed in the two halves of the line—here, ḥesed, “kindness” (or “loyalty”) near the beginning of the first verset and ʾemet, “truth,” at the end of the second verset. The apparent connection of this verse with the preceding lines is that with a king seeking justice sitting on the throne of Judah, the Moabite refugees can expect to receive succor.

6. We have heard of Moab’s pride. Although this prophecy is linked with the previous one by the subject of Moab, the theme now is exulting over Moab’s fall, with the keening for her disaster in verses 9–11 perhaps sarcastic.

Not so are his lies. The Hebrew noun here is problematic and many different solutions have been proposed.

7. the raisin cakes. Though some see these as an element in the cult, the mention in the next verse of the vineyards signifies where grapes for fine wine were grown and suggests that the raisin cakes, a different use of grapes, were simply part of the good times before disaster overtook Moab.

8. The notables of nations. Some interpreters understand baʿaley goyim as a place-name, which in terms of its form it could conceivably be. But since the lines that follow evoke an army wreaking havoc and sweeping down to the coast, it is more likely that the phrase, as rendered here, refers to invaders, or their commanders.

9. Therefore do I weep. It is ambiguous whether the speaker expresses sympathy for the plight of Moab or whether these lines are ironic.

a shout. This is an exclamation of joy, heydad.

12. unavailing on the high place. The Moabites will go to their site of worship, a hilltop altar and sanctuary, to entreat their gods for help, but it will be unavailing.

13. This is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in time past. The reference seems to be to an earlier prophecy about the destruction of Moab (perhaps the one recorded in chapter 15) that was not fulfilled. In a kind of temporal revision, the prophet now says that the destruction will come in another three years.

14. three years, like the years of a hired worker. One might infer that there were contractual arrangements—in all likelihood, for indentured servants—that fixed the term of service for three years. Just as the hired worker awaits the end of his period of service and the recompense and liberation that come at the end, the Israelites await the promised destruction of Moab.