Jerome : (Verse 8.) Since the suburbs of Heshbon are deserted: a vineyard of Sibmah. Between Heshbon and Sibmah, there are barely five hundred steps, and by way of metaphor, the vineyard signifies the desolation of the entire province. The scourges of the Lord against the nations have fallen. He keeps the translation that he had begun, showing the kings of the nations who had devastated Moab, all the villages and castles laid waste. They came as far as Jazer: they wandered in the desert: its branches were left behind: they crossed the sea. Understand the scourge and branches of its people, the fugitives: and the crossing of the sea, the captivity in Babylon, of which we will read later, the burden of the desert sea. — Commentary on Isaiah Jerome : (Verse 8) For the suburbs of Heshbon are desolate, the vine of Sibmah. For all their thoughts, which Esebon signifies, do not pertain to the habitation of the Lord's city, of which it is written: The streams of the river make the city of God glad (Ps. 45:5); but they are suburban, so that they may be thought to pertain to the city of the Lord: these suburbs are deserted, without divine protection, or burned by divine fire, especially the vineyard of Sabama, which signifies raising up to a height, because it strives to rise up high and build its tower of pride up to heaven. — Commentary on Isaiah