The verse also underlines how deep the crisis is: even Moab’s armed men—people expected to bring order and defense—are shown crying out. The closing line shifts from geography and noise to inner collapse: Moab is described as having a “soul” that trembles within him. That language portrays fear reaching the inside of the nation, not only its streets.

Where interpretation differs

Two main questions are read differently.

First, “his soul trembles within him”: some take “him” as Moab as a whole spoken of like one person (the nation’s inner life shaking). Others think the line narrows to a representative individual (such as a leader or a typical Moabite), using one person to embody the wider panic.

Second, the force of “therefore”: some read it as a clear cause-and-effect link (because the cries spread and are heard far off, the soldiers also cry). Others read it more as a scene connector (and so/then), continuing the same cascading picture without stressing strict causation.

Why the disagreement exists The verse uses compressed poetic speech: quick place names, a “therefore” that can mark either inference or sequence, and a shift from plural groups (“towns,” “armed men”) to a singular inner self (“his soul”). Those features invite more than one reasonable way to map the grammar onto the scene.

What this passage clearly contributes Explicitly, the text portrays Moab’s disaster as broad (multiple towns), audible at distance (heard to Jahaz), and socially total (even soldiers join the wailing). By inference, it presents political or military strength as unable to stabilize the situation, and it frames national crisis as both external (public cries) and internal (trembling “soul”).

burdensome (yā·rə·‘āh)