‘My heart cries out for Moab, her nobles flee to Zoar,
To Eglath-Shelishiyah,
For by the ascent of Luhith they go up with weeping,
For in the way of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.'
Panic has seized the whole of Moab. The nobles flee to the Dead Sea area, to Zoar, and to Eglath-Shelishiyah. The people stream to the ascent of Luhith, weeping as they climb. They take the highway of Horonaim in their desperation to get away, crying out concerning the destruction of Moab. The whole of Moab are refugees.
‘My heart cries out for Moab.' This may be Isaiah, or it may be God speaking (compare Isaiah 15:9). He does not find judgment easy to bear.
Some read ‘Eglath Shelishiyah' as referring to ‘a heifer of the third year', and see it as indicating that Moab is like an untamed heifer now being subjected to the yoke.