Near to come - Twenty-three years elapsed between the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when this prophecy was spoken, and its accomplishment by the invasion of Moab five years after the capture of Jerusalem. So slowly does God's justice move onward.

The calamity of Moab is near to come,.... As it did come within live years after the destruction of Jerusalem, as observed on Jeremiah 48:12; out of Josephus:

and his affliction hasteth fast: or, "his evil" (z) the evil of punishment for his sin; his utter destruction.

(z) "malum ejus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt.

Moab's glory is departed. - Jeremiah 48:16. "The destruction of Moab is near to come, and his trouble hastens rapidly. Jeremiah 48:17. Bewail him, all [ye who are] round about him, and all who know his name! Say, How the rod of strength is broken, the staff of majesty! Jeremiah 48:18. Come down from [thy] glory, and sit in the drought, [thou] inhabitants, daughter of Dibon; for the destroyer of Moab hath come up against thee, he hath destroyed thy strongholds. Jeremiah 48:19. Stand by the way, and watch, O inhabitants of Aroer! ask him who flees, and her that has escaped; say, What has happened? Jeremiah 48:20. Moab is ashamed, for it is broken down: howl and cry out; tell it in Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. Jeremiah 48:21. And judgment hath come upon the country of the plain, upon Holon, and upon Jahzah, and upon Mephaath, Jeremiah 48:22. And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim, Jeremiah 48:23. And upon Kirjathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon, Jeremiah 48:24. And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, those that are far off and those that are near. Jeremiah 48:25. The horn of Moab is cut off, ad his arm is broken, saith Jahveh."

The downfall of Moab will soon begin. Jeremiah 48:16 is an imitation of Deuteronomy 32:35; cf. Isaiah 13:22; Isaiah 56:1. The fall of the Moabite power and glory will be so terrible, that all the nations, near ad distant, will have pity on him. The summons to lament, Jeremiah 48:17, is not a mockery, but is seriously meant, for the purpose of expressing the idea that the downfall of so mighty and glorious a power will rouse compassion. The environs of Moab are the neighbouring nations, and "those who know his name" are those who live far off, and have only heard about him. The staff, the sceptre, is the emblem of authority; cf. Ezekiel 19:11-12, Ezekiel 19:14, and Psalm 110:2.

The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.

48:16 Is near - Josephus tells us this destruction came upon the Moabites five years after the siege of Jerusalem.

16. near-to the prophet's eye, though probably twenty-three years elapsed between the utterance of the prophecy in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (2Ki 24:2) and its fulfilment in the fifth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

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.