1 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
6 And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.
12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.
<html><b>counsels from long ago in true faith</b> Counsels that You advised from long ago to Abraham in the Covenant between the Parts. <b>true faith</b> (אֱמוּנָה אֹמֶן). אֹמֶן is like אֹהֶל, tent, אֹכֶל, food, and it is not a verb in present tense but an expression of a noun, obrement (truth) in O.F.</html>
<html><b>For You have made</b> Mount Seir from a city into a heap. <b>a palace of strangers, because of the city</b> Because of the iniquity they committed in Your city, that they destroyed it, You shall make its palaces a ruin, which shall never be rebuilt.</html>
<html><b>a shelter from pouring rain</b> a covering of a tent to save from pouring rain and a shade to protect from heat. Now, what is that pouring rain? A spirit of tyrants, for their spirit is like a stream that floods the wall and causes it to fall.</html>
<html><b>Like heat in the dry season</b> In the dry season, when the seeds dry out to be cut off, so shall You humble the multitude of the strangers. <b>like heat with a thick cloud</b> When the heavens thicken with thick clouds in the hot season, with which everyone rejoices, so will the song of the righteous be sung concerning the cutting down of the tyrants and their downfall. <b>the downfall of</b> (lit., the cutting down of. זְמִיר). An expression related to (Lev. 25:4): “You shall not prune (תִזְמֹר).”</html>
<html><b>And the Lord of Hosts shall make for all the peoples</b> when they come to mobilize against Jerusalem. <b>a feast of fat things</b> which they think that it will be easy for them like fat, which is smooth and soft, will be converted for them to a feast of dregs. <b>fat things full of marrow</b> soft and fat like the marrow of bones, will be dregs well refined from any liquid of wine or oil, for there will be there only the dregs. All this will be in the war of Gog and Magog.</html>
<html><b>the covering</b> The covering that covers all the people. Heb. הלוט, similar to “he wrapped his face” (I Kings 19:13), and to “behold, it is wrapped in a garment” (I Samuel 21:10). <b>and the kingdom</b> (Heb. וְהַמַּסֵּכָה.) An expression of kingdom and ruling.</html>
<html><b>He has concealed death</b> He will cover it and hide it forever from Israel.</html>
<html><b>And they shall say</b> (Lit., and he shall say, i.e.,) His people (shall say) on that day, “Behold, etc.” <b>we hoped for Him that he would save us</b> We were hoping for Him that He would save us.</html>
<html><b>For the hand of the Lord shall rest</b> The might of the Omnipresent. <b>shall be trampled</b> וְנָדוֹשׁ, shall be trampled. <b>in its place</b> (תַּחְתָּיו, lit., under him,) in its place. וְנָדוֹשׁ is of the same structure as (Eccl. 12: 6) “And the wheel is crushed (וְנָרוֹץ),” the “nun” indicating the passive voice. <b>straw</b> (מַתְבֵּן) derived from תֶּבֶן. <b>mire</b> (מַדְמֵנָה) mire. Comp. (Jer. 8:2) “For dung (לְדֹמֶן) on the face of the earth.”</html>
<html><b>And he shall spread out his hands</b> (וּפֵרַשׂ) He shall break his hands and his arms by clapping his hands in weeping. <b>the swimmer</b> (הַשׂחֶה) the one who floats upon the water. <b>to swim</b> (לִשְׂחוֹת) to float, as: (Ezekiel 47:5) “Water fit to swim in (מֵי שָׂחוּ).” <b>and He shall humble</b> the One Who humbles his haughtiness. <b>with the cunning of His hands</b> (אָרְבוֹת,) an expression similar to (Deut. 19:11): “And he lay in wait for him (וְאָרַב).” Jonathan renders: The layings of His hands. The place where He lays His hands to lie in wait. These are the high towers. אַשְׁוַת is an expression of walls and towers, as: (Jer. 50: 15) “Her walls fell (אָשְׁיוֹתֶיהָ).”</html>
<html><b>the strength of your walls</b> He addresses Moab.</html>