Translations
KJVPrimary
King James VersionAnd he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.
F.O.G.Secondary
The F.O.GHe will spread out his hands within it — as a swimmer spreads his hands to swim — but YHWH will lay low his pride, stroke by stroke of his outstretched hands.
F.O.G.M.
F.O.G MessageHe will spread his hands out in it as a swimmer spreads his hands to swim — but Yahweh will humble his pride along with every desperate stroke of his hands.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleHe will spread out his hands within it, as a swimmer spreads his arms to swim. His pride will be brought low, despite the skill of his hands.
Footnotes
The swimming image is darkly comic: Moab flails in the dung-pit like a drowning man, his outstretched hands a gesture of both futile effort and helplessness. *Ga'avah* (גַּאֲוָה), 'pride,' is the theological target — the same pride that built the unnamed city of verse 2 is here literally brought low. The phrase *im arboth yadayv* (עִם אַרְבּוֹת יָדָיו) — 'together with the strokes/craft of his hands' — may also carry the sense of all Moab's accumulated achievements being brought to nothing. FOG renders the rhythm of stroke-by-stroke humiliation; FOG Message emphasises the desperation underlying the pride.
