(Note: The mention of Moab among names if cities in Jeremiah 48:4, and in connection with Kir-heres in Jeremiah 48:31 and Jeremiah 48:36 proves nothing; for in Jeremiah 48:4 Moab is not named among towns, and the expression in Jeremiah 48:31 and Jeremiah 48:36 is analogous to the phrase "Judah and Jerusalem." Nor can any proof be derived from the fact that Rabbath-Moab is merely called "Moab" in the Onomasticon of Eusebius, and Mb in Abulfeda, and Rabbath-Ammon, now merely "Amman;" because this mode of speaking will not admit of being applied for purposes of proof to matters pertaining to Old Testament times, since it originated only in the Christian ages,at a time, too, when Rabbath had become the capital of the country, and when Rabbath-Moab could easily be shortened by the common people into "Moab." Rabbath (of Moab), however, is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament.)

שׁבר, to break,of a nation or a city (Jeremiah 19:11; Isaiah 14:25, etc.), as it were, to ruin, - is here used of the country or kingdom. צעוריה is for צעיריה, as in Jeremiah 14:3. The little ones of Moab, that raise a cry, are neither the children (Vulgate, Dahler, Maurer), nor the small towns (Hitzig), nor the people of humble condition, but cives Moabi ad statum miserum dejecti (Kueper). The lxx have rendered εἰς Ζογόρα (i.e., צעורה), which reading is preferred by J. D. Michaelis, Ewald, Umbreit, Graf, Ngelsbach, but without sufficient reason; for neither the occurrence of Zoar in combination with Horonaim in Jeremiah 48:34, nor the parallel passage Isaiah 15:5, will prove the point. Isaiah 15:5 is not a parallel to this verse, but to Jeremiah 48:34; however, the train of thought is different from that before us here. Besides, Jeremiah writes the name of the town צער (not צוער), cf. v. 34, as in Isaiah 15:5; Deuteronomy 34:3; Genesis 13:10 (צוער occurs only in Genesis 19:22, Genesis 19:30); hence it is unlikely that צעור has been written by mistake for צוער.