John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 48:12

"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will send unto him them that pour off, and they shall pour him off; and they shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces." — Jeremiah 48:12 (ASV)

The Prophet said in the last lecture that the Moabites, as long as they lived prosperously, were very hardened, as impunity becomes an incentive to sin; for the ungodly, while God spares them, think that they will never be called to account. He now adds that the days would come when God would suddenly execute vengeance on them. But he pursues the comparison he had used, for he had said that the Moabites were like wine that had not been poured from one vessel to another; and thus they retained their own odor—that is, they were inebriated with their own pleasures—because God had granted them peace and quiet for a long time.

Now, the Prophet, on the other hand, says that God would send them drivers, to drive them away, who would empty their vessels and scatter their bottles—the container for the contained; though I do not disapprove of another translation, “and destroy their bottles,” for the verb is sometimes taken in this sense.

Properly, it means to scatter, to dissipate; but the verb נפף (nuphets) sometimes expresses a stronger idea: even to scatter or to cast forth with violence, so as to break what is thus cast forth. As to the real meaning, there is not much difference, for we perceive God’s purpose: that He would send enemies to the Moabites to drive them into exile and thus deprive them of those pleasures in which they had so long indulged. But this was not said for the sake of the Moabites, but so that the Jews might know that even though that land had been in a quiet state, it would still not escape God’s hand; for its long-continued prosperity could not nullify the decree of God of which the Prophet had spoken.