Note on Isaiah 3:18 and "the moon" (NRSV: crescent ornaments)

  

In that day the Lod will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon. (Isa 3:18)

 

The term translated as "the moon" is שַׂהֲרוֹן. The following is taken from Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), 1311 (Logos Bible Software edition):

 

שַׂהֲרֹנִים: etymology uncertain, ? root שׂהר see Bauer OLZ 38 (1935) 477, cf. ? MHeb. שַׂהַר roundness, basket; *שַׂהַר + diminutive ending -ōn (Bauer-L. Heb. 500u; Fschr. Stamm 5-8); MHeb. סַהֲרוֹן moon-shaped ornament (?); זיהרא, Sam. זהרא, det. zērrå (Ben-H. Lit. Oral Trad. 3/2:240); JArm. סַהֲרָא, סֵיהֲרָא moon; OArm., EmpArm. שהר Šhr, the moon-god (Donner-R. Inschriften 3: p. 58b; Gese-H. Religionen 167f, 217¹⁷, 289; Haussig Wb. Myth. 1:525, 549); OSArb. šhr new-moon, the first day of the month (Conti Chrest. 247b; Beeston JSS 22 (1977) 56; Beeston Sabaic Dictionary 132), divine name rbʿ šhr (Rubʿ Šahar) the quarter moon (Conti Chrest. 247; Gese-H. Religionen 283, 284) the epithet of the god šhrn (Šahrān) the moon, cf. Höfner Gramm. §98 and 105 (Conti Chrest. 247f; Gese-H. Religionen 289); Syr. sahrā; CPArm. shrʾ; Mnd. sira I moon (Drower-M. Dictionary 329b); Eth. šāhr (Dillmann Lex. 230b); Arb. šahr: little moons, which served as amulets or jewelry Ju 8:21, 26 Is 3:18, see BRL² 10f. p. 10b fig. 8; further bibliography in Wildberger BK 10:142. †

 

The following image comes from Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament: Isaiah, 2 vols. (London: Blackie & Son, 1851), 1:104