Isaiah 16

1 Send ye the lambs for the ruler of the land from the crags that are toward the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2 For it shall be that, as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be at the fords of Arnon.

3 'Give counsel, execute justice; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; betray not the fugitive.

4 Let mine outcasts dwell with thee; as for Moab, be thou a covert to him from the face of the spoiler.' For the extortion is at an end, spoiling ceaseth, they that trampled down are consumed out of the land;

5 And a throne is established through mercy, and there sitteth thereon in truth, in the tent of David, one that judgeth, and seeketh justice, and is ready in righteousness.

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud; even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his arrogancy, his ill-founded boastings.

7 Therefore shall Moab wail for Moab, every one shall wail; for the sweet cakes of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn, sorely stricken.

8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah, whose choice plants did overcome the lords of nations; they reached even unto Jazer, they wandered into the wilderness; her branches were spread abroad, they passed over the sea.

9 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh; for upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest the battle shout is fallen.

10 And gladness and joy are taken away out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting; no treader shall tread out wine in the presses; I have made the vintage shout to cease.

11 Wherefore my heart moaneth like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-heres.

12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab hath wearied himself upon the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail

13 This is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in time past.

14 But now the LORD hath spoken, saying: 'Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall wax contemptible for all his great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and without strength.'