Jeremiah 48:33

And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(33) None shall tread with shouting.—The words bring before us the vintage-song of those who trod out the grapes (Jeremiah 25:30; Isaiah 16:10). Of this the prophet says, in a form which reminds us of the δωρα αδωρα (“gifts that are no gifts”) of Soph. Aias. 674, that it shall be “no shouting,” i.e., that it shall be turned to wailing and lamentation, or the shout and tumult of battle shall have taken its place.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

48:14-47. The destruction of Moab is further prophesied, to awaken them by national repentance and reformation to prevent the trouble, or by a personal repentance and reformation to prepare for it. In reading this long roll of threatenings, and mediating on the terror, it will be of more use to us to keep in view the power of God's anger and the terror of his judgments, and to have our hearts possessed with a holy awe of God and of his wrath, than to search into all the figures and expressions here used. Yet it is not perpetual destruction. The chapter ends with a promise of their return out of captivity in the latter days. Even with Moabites God will not contend for ever, nor be always wroth. The Jews refer it to the days of the Messiah; then the captives of the Gentiles, under the yoke of sin and Satan, shall be brought back by Divine grace, which shall make them free indeed.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Winepresses - Rather, "wine-vats," into which the wine runs from the presses.

Their shouting shall be no shouting - The vintage shout is - silence. For the vines have been destroyed, and desolation reigns where once was the joyful cry of those who tread the grapes.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

33. the plentiful field—rather, "Carmel": as the parallel "land of Moab" requires, though in Isa 16:10, it is "the plentiful field." Joy is taken away as from the nearer regions (Canaan and Palestine), so from the farther "land of Moab"; what has happened to Judah shall befall Moab, too (Jer 48:26, 27) [Maurer]. However, Moab alone seems to be spoken of here; nor does the parallelism forbid "plentiful field" answering to "Moab." English Version is therefore better.

shouting—repeated; as at the conclusion of the vintage, men sing over and over again the same cry of joy. A shouting shall be heard, but not the joyous shouting of laborers treading the grapes, but the terrible battle cry of the foe.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The time of harvest and vintage being times when the husbandmen were wont to reap the fruit of all their labours the preceding year, were times of great joy ordinarily; but the prophet foretells them of a year when there should be no such rejoicing, for they should have no wine from the winepresses, there should be no shouting as used to be in the time of harvest and of vintage.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field,.... Or, from Carmel (k); not Mount Carmel in the land of Israel; for the prophecy is of Moab; though that reached to Sibmah; but here it signifies any fruitful place, like Carmel, where were good pasturage, corn, and fruit bearing trees, which produced great plenty of good things, and caused joy to the owners of them: but now all being destroyed by the enemy, joy and gladness would cease:

and from the land of Moab; from all parts of it, where there had used to be plenty, and so joy:

and I have caused wine to fail from the wine presses: there being no grapes to put into them, or men to tread them, were there any; or, if put in and trodden, not the owners, but the enemy, should have the wine; so that it should fail from the Moabites; they should be never the better for it. These are the words of the Lord, who has the disposal of the fruits of the earth:

none shall tread with shouting; as treaders in the wine press used to do, to encourage one another, and make their labour more easy, and the time to pass on in it more pleasantly; but now there should neither be treading nor shouting; see Isaiah 16:10;

their shouting shall be no shouting; not a shouting of joy, as used to be when they trod out the wine; but a cry of mourning and lamentation, because of the sword of the enemy.

(k) "de Carmelo", V. L. "de Charmel", Montanus; "ex Carmelo", Schmidt.

Geneva Study Bible

And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab, and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

33. This v. is taken with modifications from Isaiah 16:10.

And gladness … Moab] probably genuine. From “and I have caused” to the end of Jeremiah 48:34 seems again an expansion.

none shall tread with shouting] read rather, with Isaiah, no treader shall tread.

the shouting shall be no shouting] The Hebrew noun is used for both the joyous shout of the grape-treaders and for a battle-cry. Thus the clause means that the former shall be transformed into the latter. Cp. Jeremiah 25:30.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 33. - Nearly identical with Isaiah 16:10. The plentiful field; rather, the garden land; i.e. land planted with "noble" plants, especially vines and olives. Wine. Here clearly sweet and unfermented wine (comp. Amos 9:13, 14). None shall tread with shouting. This involves a very harsh construction of the Hebrew, and it is better (considering the numerous other errors of the same kind in the received text) to correct in accordance with Isaiah 16:10," the treader shall not tread." Their shouting shall be no shouting. "Shouting" (Hebrew, hedad) may be taken in two senses:

(1) the cheerful, musical cry with which "the treaders" pressed out the juice of the grapes (comp. Jeremiah 25:30);

(2) the wild cry (Jeremiah 51:14) with which the enemy "fell upon the summer fruits and upon the vintage" (ver. 32), reducing the inhabitants to abject misery. In Isaiah 16:9, 10 an allusion is made to this double meaning, and so, perhaps, it may be here ("There shall be shouting, but not that of the peaceful vintagers at their work"). Or, as others, we may explain "no shouting" as equivalent to "the opposite of shouting," i.e. either silence or lamentation (comp. Isaiah 10:15, "not wood" equivalent to "that which is specifically different from wood;" and Isaiah 31:3, "not God," equivalent to "the very opposite of Divine"). Jeremiah 48:33

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

מבּכי יעזר, "more than the weeping of Jazer," may signify, "More than Jazer weeps do I weep over thee;" or, "More than over Jazer weeps do I weep over thee;" or, "More than over Jazer do I weep over thee." However, the former interpretation is the more obvious, and is confirmed by the reading in Isaiah 16:9. According to the Onomasticon, Jazer was fifteen Roman miles north from Heshbon. Seetzen recognises it in the ruins called es Szir at the source of the Nahr Szir; see on Numbers 21:32. According to Jerome, on Isaiah 16:8, Sibmah was only five hundred paces from Heshbon; see on Numbers 32:38. Judging from the verse now before us, and from Isa. l.c., the vines of Sibmah must have been famed for the strength and excellence of their clusters. Even now, that region produces excellent grapes in abundance. From Szalt, which lies only ten miles north from Szir, raisins and grapes are carried to Jerusalem, and these of excellent quality (Seetzen, i. S. 399; Burckhardt, p. 350). In what follows, "his tendrils crossed the sea," etc., the extensive cultivation of the grape is set forth under the figure of a vine whose tendrils stretch out on all sides. "They have crossed over the sea" has reference in Isaiah (Isaiah 16:8) to the Dead Sea (ים, as in Psalm 68:23; 2 Chronicles 20:2); not merely, however, in the sense of the shoots reaching close to the Dead Sea, but also over it, for Engedi was famed for its vines (Sol 1:14). Jeremiah also has reproduced the words taken from Isaiah in this sense. From the following clause, "they reached to the sea of Jazer," it does not follow that he has specified "the sea" by "Jazer." What tells rather the other way is the fact that עבר, which means to cross over, cannot possibly be used as equivalent to נגע עד, "to reach to." "They crossed over the sea" shows extension towards the west, while "they reached to the sea of Jazer" indicates extension towards the north. This latter statement also is an imitation of what we find in Isaiah 16:8; and "Jazer" is merely further specified as "the sea of Jazer." In spite of the most diligent inquiries, Seetzen (i. S. 406) could learn nothing from the people of that region regarding an inland lake; but in the beautiful green vale in the vicinity of Szr (i.e., Jazer) there were several ponds, which he supposes may possibly be the mare Jazer, since this valley lying among the mountains is somewhat depressed, and in ancient times was probably filled with water. The "sea" (ים) of Solomon's temple further shows that ים does not necessarily denote only a large lake, but might also be applied to a large artificial basin of water. So also, at the present day, the artificial water-basins on the streets of Damascus are called baharat, "seas;" cf. Wetzstein in Delitzsch on Isaiah 16:8. This cultivation of the vine is at an end; for the destroyer has fallen upon the fruit-harvest and the vintage. Jeremiah, by "the destroyer has fallen," explains the words of Isaiah (Isaiah 16:9), "shouting has fallen." - In Jeremiah 48:33, Isaiah 16:10 is reproduced. "Joy and gladness are taken away from the gardens, and from the whole land of Moab." כּרמל is not here a proper name, for Mount Carmel does not at all suit the present context; it is an appellative, fruit-land, i.e., the fruitful wine-country near Jazer. Jeremiah adds, "and from the land (i.e., the whole land) of Moab." The pressing of the grapes comes to an end; there is no wine in the vat; no longer is the wine pressed with "Hedad." הידד is an adverbial accusative. This is further specified by the oxymoron: a "Hedad, and yet not a Hedad." This word generally signifies any loud shout, - not merely the shout of the wine-pressers as they tread the grapes (see on Jeremiah 25:30), but also a battle-cry; cf. Jeremiah 51:14. Hence the meaning is, "Hedad is heard, but not a merry shout of the wine-pressers."