Jeremiah 48:9

Give wings unto Moab that it may flee and get away,.... That is, give wings to the inhabitants of Moab; signifying that they were in great danger, and there was no probability of escaping it, unless they had the wings of a swift bird, or were as swift as such, and even that would not do; though perhaps their fleeing, and passing away with wings, may signify not their fleeing from danger, and their attempt to escape; but their swift and sudden destruction, compared to the swift flight of a bird; for the last clause may be rendered, "for in flying it shall fly away" o. Some render the first clause, "give a flower to Moab", as the Vulgate Latin version; and so the word sometimes signifies, Isaiah 40:7; and the sense may be, hold up a flower to Moab, or a feather, such as is light, as the down of a thistle, as an emblem of its destruction; which shall pass away as easily and swiftly as so light a thing before the wind; but Jarchi and Kimchi interpret the word as we do, a wing. The Targum is,

"take away the crown from Moab, for going it shall go away into captivity.''

The word is used of the plate of gold on the high priest's mitre,

Exodus 28:36;

for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein; which expresses the utter destruction of them.

o כי נצא תצא "quia volando volabit", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; "quia avolando avolabit", Schmidt; "nam avolabit", Piscator.