Moab, he says, shall be like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah, even for the production of the nettle and for a mire of salt; This clause is rendered differently by some. The word [ממשק] occurs only here. It is rendered by the Targum by a word which means a "deserted place,” and so Newcome renders it, “A deserted place for the thorn:” so also do Drusius, Grotius, Piscator, and Marckius. The Septuagint have mistaken the word for “Damascus,” and give a version of the whole clause wholly foreign to the context. Henderson thinks that the word has the same meaning with [משך], to draw out, to extend, and gives this version, “A region of overrunning brambles.” This is far-fetched. The word, [חרול], rendered “nettle” by Calvin, Grotius, and others, cannot be so taken, according to Drusius and Bochart, for in Job 30:7, men are said to gather under it. It is found besides only in Proverbs 24:31. It may be rendered either a thorn or a bramble. The other part of the sentence is literally “a digging place for salt.” Moab was to be like Sodom, and Ammon like Gommorah, not as to the manner of their ruin, but as to the extent of it. It was to be an entire overthrow. Their habitation was not to become a pool of water like Sodom and Gommorah, but a place where the bramble was to grow, and salt might be dug. And it was to be “a desolation,” [עד-עולם], “for ages;” for the word means an indefinite time. So Drusius regards it here as meaning a long time. But some consider the “desolation,” as having reference to the people and not to the place. If so, the rendering were wholly obliterated. Moab and Ammon, as a separate people, are altogether extinct. The whole verse is as follows— 9. Therefore, as I live, Saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab like Sodom shall be, And the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, The desert of the thorn and the excavation of salt, Yea, a desolation for ages; The remnant of my people shall plunder them, And the residue of my nation shall possess them. The two last lines refer to the children of Ammon, as the two preceding especially to Moab. The country of Moab was on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, and that of Ammon was north-east, of Moab. Both were subdued and led captive by Nebuchadnezzar about four or six years after the captivity of Judah. They were afterwards partially restored, especially the children of Ammon, as Tobiah was their chief in the time of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 4:3. They were “plundered,” as recorded in 1 Maccabees 5:35,51, by Judas Maccabeus. Of Moab we read nothing at that time: but it appears, that for ages it has been desolate. “Not one,” says Burckhart, the traveler, “of the ancient cities of Moab exists as tenanted by man,” and he speaks of “their entire desolation.” Another modern traveler, Seetzen, a Russian, speaking of Ammon, says, “All this country, formerly so populous, is now changed into a vast desert.”—Ed. that is, their lands should be reduced to a waste, or should become wholly barren, so that nothing was to grow there but nettles, as the case is with desert places. As to the expression, the mine (fodina) or quarry of salt, it often occurs in scripture: a salt-pit denotes sterility in Hebrew. And the Prophet adds, that this would not be for a short time only; It shall be (he says) a perpetual desolation. He also adds, that this would be for the advantage of the Church; for the residue of my people shall plunder them, and the remainder of my nation shall possess them. He ever speaks of the residue; for as it was said yesterday, it was necessary for that people to be cleansed from their dregs, so that a small portion only would remain; and we know that not many of them returned from exile.