A Chilling Curse: Text, Function, and Reception of Jeremiah 48:10

The curse in Jeremiah 48:10 is often regarded as a later interpolation to the Moab oracle in Jeremiah 48. For several reasons, this text seems to be an anomaly in the prophecy: prose instead of poetry, a sudden change of person, and an extremely vengeful mentality. However, closer analysis reveals that verse 10 has a fitting place in its context and may not necessarily originate at a later time. Meanwhile, the content of the text remains frightening. The history of its reception shows examples of both figurative and literal applications. This raises the question of a careful and hermeneutically responsible reading of this text and a reading that considers its literary, historical, theological, and redemptive-historical contexts.