Zephaniah 2:9

The breeding of nettles. — Better, an inheritance of nettles. The propriety of illustrating the fate of Moab and Ammon by that of the cities of the plain is the greater in that Lot, the ancestor of these nationalities, was an inhabitant of Sodom, and narrowly escaped sharing its destruction. Ravages in Moab and Ammon were effected by Nebuchadnezzar in B.C. 582, probably in revenge for the murder of Gedaliah, the ruler of his appointment (Jos., Ant. x. 9 § 7). But the allusion here is to some later and more permanent work of destruction. The national existence of both Moab and Ammon appears to have ceased long before the Christian era. Josephus’ assertion (Ant. i. 11 § 5.) that in his own time the Moabites were “a very great nation.” is simply unintelligible. The extraordinary number of ruined towns in Moab has been noticed by every modern explorer.