Jeremiah 48:47, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Jeremiah 48:47
Moab's Fortunes Are Promised a Later Turn
A final sentence unexpectedly promises restoration beyond the preceding destruction.
What helps us understand it
Earlier material that actually helps
Jeremiah 48:36–46Jeremiah 48:47 continues the same chapter after “The Heart Moans as Moab Cannot Escape”; the change into “Moab's Fortunes Are Promised a Later Turn” answers, qualifies, or advances that local prophetic movement.
Jeremiah 48:36–46 closes with “Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth,” while Jeremiah 48:47 opens “Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD….”
How the passage moves
The unit begins at 48:47 with the speech, scene, image, or date named in its title.
At 48:47 the movement reaches its response or transition before the next unit.
Why this reading fits
Uncertainty and ethical limit
The brief promise does not settle when or how restoration occurs or identify a modern national fulfillment.
What remains true
Durable hope tells the truth about devastation while opening accountable communal life beyond it.
How this should shape us
What proportionate response follows?
Support concrete repair, safety, belonging, and justice without promising instant prosperity or erasing Jewish covenant identity. This response follows Jeremiah 48:47's specific concern, “Moab's Fortunes Are Promised a Later Turn.”
Teach it back
Explain Jeremiah 48:47 in your own words. Name its place in Jeremiah, one source-controlled observation, one uncertainty, one enduring truth, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Stated movement
The prophetic word through Jeremiah carries this unit. A final sentence unexpectedly promises restoration beyond the preceding destruction.
Placement in Jeremiah
Within the same chapter, this unit advances from “The Heart Moans as Moab Cannot Escape” into “Moab's Fortunes Are Promised a Later Turn.” Its non-interchangeable movement is: A final sentence unexpectedly promises restoration beyond the preceding destruction.
Uncertainty and ethical limit
The brief promise does not settle when or how restoration occurs or identify a modern national fulfillment.
What the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Exilic setting and recoverable limits
This promise addresses Israel and Judah amid exile through return, land, covenant, leadership, ordinary life, and divine presence; later reception must preserve that first horizon.
How certain? strongEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Jeremiah within Jewish Scripture
Jeremiah 48:47 belongs first to Jeremiah's exilic prophetic-priestly book and its conversations with Torah, temple traditions, kingship, land, and earlier prophets. Later Jewish and Christian reception must not erase Israel or the first horizon.
How certain? probableHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Canonical relationships after the first horizon
Torah, Samuel-Kings, Josianic reform traditions, earlier prophets, lament, exile, return, Branch, covenant, Babylon, and later Jewish and Christian reuse may clarify trajectories only after Jeremiah 48:47 is read in Jeremiah's own movement and Israel-and-Judah horizon.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: The brief promise does not settle when or how restoration occurs or identify a modern national fulfillment.
How certain? strongTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
Within Jeremiah 48:47, divine presence, holiness, judgment, responsibility, hope, land, leadership, and human limitation must be weighted according to The prophetic word through Jeremiah rather than flattened into a timeless slogan.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
A final sentence unexpectedly promises restoration beyond the preceding destruction.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The brief promise does not settle when or how restoration occurs or identify a modern national fulfillment.
A vivid line in Jeremiah 48:47 can be detached from the dated exilic setting, literary form, surrounding unit, and book-level movement.
A final sentence unexpectedly promises restoration beyond the preceding destruction. Its interpretive limit is: The brief promise does not settle when or how restoration occurs or identify a modern national fulfillment.
Durable hope tells the truth about devastation while opening accountable communal life beyond it.
A final sentence unexpectedly promises restoration beyond the preceding destruction.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Jeremiah 48:47, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Jer.xml, OSIS 48:47
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, names, textual problems, and material translation alternatives.
Official NET Bible Jeremiah PDF, pp. 1258-1459, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Jeremiah 48:47
Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with ancient-to-modern limits.
Enter the Bible Jeremiah course, Outline and Themes: oracles against nations, Babylon, and historical appendix; applied to Jeremiah 48:47
Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and explicit composition questions.
Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jeremiah Part 3 study guide, pp. 1-6: Jeremiah 36, Baruch, scroll rewriting, composition, and final form; applied to Jeremiah 48:47
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Jeremiah 48:47, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Jeremiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2; fixed commit
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Jer.xml, OSIS 48:47
Open the fixed Hebrew Jeremiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Jeremiah with Translator, Textual, and Study Notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; official eBible PDF distribution, NET Bible Second Edition; official PDF accessed 2026
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, names, textual problems, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Jeremiah PDF, pp. 1258-1459, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Jeremiah 48:47
Open the official NET Jeremiah PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Jeremiah: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Themes, and Bible in the World
Terence E. Fretheim and Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current public course accessed 2026
Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with ancient-to-modern limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Jeremiah course, Outline and Themes: oracles against nations, Babylon, and historical appendix; applied to Jeremiah 48:47
Open the Enter the Bible Jeremiah course ↗open university study guide series
Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Jeremiah Parts 1-3 Study Guides
Joel S. Baden and Jacqueline Vayntrub
Yale Bible Study, 2024
Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and explicit composition questions.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jeremiah Part 3 study guide, pp. 1-6: Jeremiah 36, Baruch, scroll rewriting, composition, and final form; applied to Jeremiah 48:47
Open the Yale Jeremiah and Ezekiel course ↗