Moab
Moab was an ancient kingdom located east of the Dead Sea in present-day Jordan, often in conflict with Israel.
The name Moab means “of his father”
PlaceEdomOld Testament23 books177 verses
Summary
A location in Edom first mentioned at Genesis 19:37b; referred to as Moab or Moabite (מוֹאָב) or Moabite (מוֹאָבִי).
Location
- Identified as
- Moab 1
- Certainty
- Widely agreed
- Coordinates
- 31.181° N, 35.701° E
0 places
Location widely agreedLocation contestedLarger circles: mentioned more often
Events
Glossary entries
Connections
- Founded by
Alternative names
Mentions
177 verses
Includes 17 verses that refer to Moab without naming it.
- The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.
- When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith.
- Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,
- They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim in the wilderness opposite Moab to the east.
- From there they moved on and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends into the Amorite territory. Now the Arnon is the border between the Moabites and the Amorites.
- …even the slopes of the wadis that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”
- …and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
- Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land as far as the Arnon.
- For a fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the rulers of Arnon’s heights.
- Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.
- …and Moab was terrified of the people because they were numerous. Indeed, Moab dreaded the Israelites.
- So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will devour everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Since Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time,
- The elders of Moab and Midian departed with the fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and relayed to him the words of Balak.
- “Spend the night here,” Balaam replied, “and I will give you the answer that the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.
- And Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message:
- And the princes of Moab arose, returned to Balak, and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”
- So in the morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.
- When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite city on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory.
- So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab.
- And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’
- So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the princes of Moab. “What did the LORD say?” Balak asked.
- I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.
- While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,
- They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.
- On the east side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:
- So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab.
- Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”
- Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites.
- “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
- …just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
- No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
- These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.
- “Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.
- So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, as the LORD had said.
- And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows the location of his grave.
- Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you,
- Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
- The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.
- And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
- …and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man.
- “Follow me,” he told them, “for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and they did not allow anyone to cross over.
- At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped.
- So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.
- And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.
- …to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites.
- Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.
- Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.
- Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them?
- In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab.
- The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there.
- …who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. And after they had lived in Moab about ten years,
- When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had attended to His people by providing them with food, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab.
- So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
- And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go into the fields and glean heads of grain after someone in whose sight I may find favor.” “Go ahead, my daughter,” Naomi replied.
- The foreman answered, “She is the Moabitess who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.
- Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished gathering all my harvest.’”
- And he said to the kinsman-redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.
- Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi and also from Ruth the Moabitess, you must also acquire the widow of the deceased in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.”
- Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to raise up the name of the deceased through his inheritance, so that his name will not disappear from among his brothers or from the gate of his home. You are witnesses today.”
- But they forgot the LORD their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them.
- After Saul had assumed the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side—the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he routed them.
- From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I learn what God will do for me.”
- So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.
- David also defeated the Moabites, made them lie down on the ground, and measured them off with a cord. He measured off with two lengths those to be put to death, and with one length those to be spared. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute.
- …from Edom and Moab, from the Ammonites and Philistines and Amalekites, and from the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
- And Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a man of valor from Kabzeel, a man of many exploits. He struck down two champions of Moab, and on a snowy day he went down into a pit and killed a lion.
- King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.
- At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.
- For they have forsaken Me to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways, nor done what is right in My eyes, nor kept My statutes and judgments, as Solomon’s father David did.
- After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.
- Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he would render to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.
- But after the death of Ahab, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
- And he sent a message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” “I will go,” replied Jehoshaphat. “I am as you are, my people are your people, and my horses are your horses.”
- “Alas,” said the king of Israel, “for the LORD has summoned these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab!”
- Elisha, however, said to the king of Israel, “What have we to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and of your mother!” “No,” replied the king of Israel, “for it is the LORD who has summoned these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”
- This is a simple matter in the sight of the LORD, and He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.
- Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. So all who could bear arms, young and old, were summoned and stationed at the border.
- When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water, and it looked as red as blood to the Moabites across the way.
- “This is blood!” they exclaimed. “The kings have clashed swords and slaughtered one another. Now to the plunder, Moab!”
- But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked them, and they fled before them. So the Israelites invaded their land and struck down the Moabites.
- When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not prevail.
- And Elisha died and was buried. Now the Moabite raiders used to come into the land every spring.
- The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
- And the LORD sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through His servants the prophets.
- When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith.
- Jokim, the men of Cozeba, and Joash and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and Jashubi-lehem. (These names are from ancient records.)
- Shaharaim had sons in the country of Moab after he had divorced his wives Hushim and Baara.
- And Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a man of valor from Kabzeel, a man of many exploits. He struck down two champions of Moab, and on a snowy day he went down into a pit and killed a lion.
- Eliel the Mahavite, Jeribai and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite,
- David also defeated the Moabites, and they became subject to David and brought him tribute.
- …and King David dedicated these to the LORD, along with the silver and gold he had carried off from all these nations—from Edom and Moab, and from the Ammonites, Philistines, and Amalekites.
- After this, the Moabites and Ammonites, together with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat.
- And now, here are the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt. So Israel turned away from them and did not destroy them.
- The moment they began their shouts and praises, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.
- The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction. And when they had finished off the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
- Those who conspired against Joash were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess.
- After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.
- At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,
- In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
- Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I toss My sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”