John Gill Bible Commentary

Therefore will I howl for Moab,.... The prophet, being as a man affected with the miseries of a people very wicked, and so deserving of them; though indeed by this he does not so much design to express the affections of his own heart, as to show what reason the Moabites would have to howl for the calamities of their country; for, as Kimchi observes, the prophet here speaks in the person of the people of Moab; see Isa 16:7; and I will cry out for all Moab; the whole country of Moab, which should become desolate: mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres; the same with Kirhareseth, a city of Moab, Isa 16:7; whose foundations should be sapped, the city taken, and the men of it put to the sword, or caused to flee; and their case being deplorable, the prophet says his heart should mourn for them like a dove, as Kimchi and Jarchi observe; though it may be rendered, "he shall mourn" (g); that is, Moab; for the destruction of such a principal city, and the men of it. The Targum renders it, "for the men of the city of their strength.'' (g) "gemet", Montanus.