Isaiah 16
1 Send the tribute lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mount of Daughter Zion.
Send a lamb [to] the ruler of the land, From Selah in the wilderness, To the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2 Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon:
And it has come to pass, As a wandering bird, cast out of a nest, Are daughters of Moab, [at] fords of Arnon.
3 “Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.
Bring in counsel, do judgment, Make your shadow as night in the midst of noon, Hide outcasts, do not reveal the wanderer.
4 Let my fugitives stay with you; be a refuge for Moab from the destroyer.” When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ceased, and the oppressors have vanished from the land,
My outcasts sojourn in you, O Moab, Be a secret hiding place for them, From the face of a destroyer, For the extortioner has ceased, Devastation has been finished, The tramplers are consumed out of the land.
5 in loving devotion a throne will be established in the tent of David. A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness will sit on it in faithfulness.
And the throne is established in kindness, And [One] has sat on it in truth, in the tent of David, Judging and seeking judgment, and hastening righteousness.
6 We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.
We have heard of the pride of Moab—very proud, His pride, and his arrogance, and his wrath—his boastings [are] not right.
7 Therefore let Moab wail; let them wail together for Moab. Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, you who are utterly stricken.
Therefore Moab howls for Moab, all of it howls, It meditates for the grape-cakes of Kir-Hareseth, They are surely struck.
8 For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the sea.
Because fields of Heshbon languish, The vine of Sibmah, Lords of nations beat her choice vines, They have come to Jazer, They have wandered in a wilderness, Her plants have spread themselves, They have passed over a sea.
9 So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.
Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer, The vine of Sibmah, I water you [with] my tear, O Heshbon and Elealeh, For—for your summer fruits, and for your harvest, The shouting has fallen.
10 Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards. No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses; I have put an end to the cheering.
And gladness and joy have been removed from the fruitful field, And they do not sing in vineyards, nor shout, The treader does not tread wine in the presses, I have caused shouting to cease.
11 Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.
Therefore my bowels sound as a harp for Moab, And my inward parts for Kir-Haresh.
12 When Moab appears on the high place, when he wearies himself and enters his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.
And it has come to pass, when it has been seen, That Moab has been weary on the high place, And he has come to his sanctuary to pray, And is not able.
13 This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab.
This [is] the word that YHWH has spoken to Moab from that time,
14 And now the LORD says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble.”
And now YHWH has spoken, saying, “In three years, as years of a hired worker, The glory of Moab is lightly esteemed, With all the great multitude, And the remnant [is] little, small, not mighty!”
