Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the last days, saith the Lord. Hitherto the judgments of Moab.

But I will turn the captivity of Moab at the end of the days, saith Jehovah. Thus far is the judgement of Moab.

And I have turned back to the captivity of Moab, In the latter end of the days, An affirmation of Jehovah! Hitherto is the judgment of Moab.

But still, I will let the fate of Moab be changed in the last days, says the Lord.

Yet will I turn the captivity of Moab In the end of days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

But I will convert the captivity of Moab in the last days, says the Lord." Such are the judgments of Moab thus far.

Et reducam captivitatem Moab in fine dierum (hoc est, post longum tempus,) dicit Jehova. Hactenus judicium Moab.

Here, as we see, God gives place to his mercy, so that the Moabites should not wholly perish. At the same time, things which seem to be contrary agree together, even that destruction was nigh the people of Moab, and yet that some would remain alive, who would afterwards renew the name of the nation, as it was God's purpose to restore the Moabites to their former state. These things, as I have said, seem inconsistent, and yet they may be easily reconciled; for it was God's will so to destroy the Moabites, that those who died might not be without hope; and then, those who remained alive were not deemed to be among the living, but in exile they were like the dead. God, indeed, ever supported the godly with hope, even when they were driven into Babylon: but as to the Moabites, the living as well as the dead, had no hope. Why, then, was this promise given? not for the sake of the Moabites; but that the Jews might feel assured that God would at length be propitious to them; he promises pardon to the Moabites as it were accidentally, so to speak, and thus unavowedly stretches forth his hand to them, but with a design through this mercy to give to the Israelites a taste of his paternal favor. What remains we must reserve for the

Bring again the captivity - (Or, "restore the prosperity.") A similar promise is given to Egypt, Ammon, and Elam Jeremiah 46:26; Jeremiah 49:6.
Thus far Moab - An editorial note by the same hand as the last words of Jeremiah 51:64.

Will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days - I have already expressed doubts (see Jeremiah 48:42) whether the Moabites were ever restored to their national distinction. The expressions in this chapter, relative to their total destruction as a people, are so strong and so frequent, that they leave little room for a limited interpretation. That many of them returned on the edict of Cyrus by virtue of which the Jews were restored, I doubt not; but neither the Ammonites, Moabites, Philistines, nor even the Jews themselves were ever restored to their national consequence. Perhaps the restoration spoken of here which was to take place in the latter days, may mean the conversion of these people, in their existing remnants, to the faith of the Gospel. Several judicious interpreters are of this opinion. The Moabites were partially restored; but never, as far as I have been able to learn, to their national consequence. Their conversion to the Christian faith must be the main end designed by this prophecy.

Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the (c) latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far [is] the judgment of Moab.
(c) That is, they will be restored by the Messiah.

Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter day, saith the Lord,.... Some think this is added, not so much for the sake of Moab as of the Jews, to assure them of their return from captivity, as had been promised them, since this would be the case even of Moab. It had a literal accomplishment under Cyrus, as is thought, when they were restored to their land; and certain it is they were a people in the times of Alexander, or King Jannaeus, who subdued them, as Josephus (t) relates: and it had a spiritual one in the times of the Messiah, in the conversion of some of these people, as very probably in the first times of the Gospel; so it will have in the latter day; see Isaiah 11:14. Kimchi interprets it of the days of the Messiah. For though that people are no more, yet there are a people which inhabit their country, who will, at least many of them, be converted, when the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in; and it is no unusual thing in Scripture for the present inhabitants of many countries to be called after those who formerly inhabited them, as the Turks are often called Assyrians;
thus far is the judgment of Moab; that is, either so long, unto the latter days, will the judgment of Moab continue. So the Targum,
"hitherto to execute vengeance of judgment on Moab;''
or rather, thus far is the prophecy concerning the destruction of Moab; this is the conclusion of it; here it ends, being a long one.
(t) Antiqu. l. 13. c. 13. sect 5.

Restoration promised to Moab, for the sake of righteous Lot, their progenitor (Genesis 19:37; Exodus 20:6; Psalm 89:30-33). Compare as to Egypt, Jeremiah 46:26; Ammon, Jeremiah 49:6; Elam, Jeremiah 49:39. Gospel blessings, temporal and spiritual, to the Gentiles in the last days, are intended.
The event of the prophecy as to Ammon preceded that as to Moab (see on Jeremiah 49:3); and in Ezekiel 21:26-28, the destruction of Ammon is subjoined to the deposition of Zedekiah.

This infliction of judgment, however, on the Moabites, is not to prove a complete annihilation of them. At the end of the days, i.e., in the Messianic times (see on Jeremiah 23:20), there is in store for them a turn in their fortunes, or a restoration. For שׁוּב שׁבוּת, see on Jeremiah 29:14. Cf. the similar promise for Egypt, Jeremiah 46:26; Ammon and Elam, Jeremiah 49:6 and Jeremiah 49:39. The last clause, "Thus far," etc., is an addition made by the editor, when this oracle was received into the collection of Jeremiah's prophecies; cf. Jeremiah 51:64. משׁפּט means the prophecy regarding Moab with respect to its contents.
As to the fulfilment of the threatened ruin, Josephus (Antt. x. 9. 7) states that Nebuchadnezzar, in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, made war on the Moabites and subdued them. This statement is not to be questioned, though the date given should be incorrect. We have no other sources of information regarding this people. After the return of the Israelites from Babylon, the Moabites are no longer mentioned as a people, except in Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 13:1, Nehemiah 13:23, where it is stated that some Israelites had married Moabitish wives; nor is any mention made of this people in the books of the Maccabees, which, however, relate the wars of Judas Maccabeus with the Ammonites and Edomites (1 Macc. 5:3 and 6, cf. 4:61); neither is there any further notice taken of them in Josephus, who only now and then speaks of Moab, i.e., the country and its towns (Antt. xiii. 14. 2, 15. 4; Bell. Jude. iii. 3. 3, iv. 8. 2). This name seems to have been merged, after the exile, in that of the Arabians. But the disappearance of the name of this people does not exclude the probability that descendants continued to exist, who, when Christianity spread in the country to the east of the Jordan, were received into the communion of the Christian church.

Bring again - It seems this is to be understood of a spiritual reduction of them, by calling them into the kingdom of the Messiah.