Esias 16

1 I will send as it were reptiles on the land: is [not] the mount of the daughter of Sion a desolate rock?

Send the lambs for the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

2 For you shall be as a young bird taken away from a bird that has flown: [even] you shall be [so], daughter of Moab: and then do you, O Arnon,

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

3 take farther counsel, and continually make you a shelter from grief: they flee in darkness at mid-day; they are amazed; be not you led captive.

Give counsel. Execute justice. Make your shade like the night in the midst of the noonday. Hide the outcasts. Do not betray the fugitive.

4 The fugitives of Moab shall sojourn with you; they shall be to you a shelter from the face of the pursuer: for your alliance has been taken away, and the oppressing ruler has perished from off the earth.

Let my outcasts dwell with you. As for Moab, be a hiding place for him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortioner is brought to nothing. Destruction ceases. The oppressors are consumed out of the land.

5 And a throne shall be established with mercy; and one shall sit upon it with truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and earnestly seeking judgments, and hasting righteousness.

A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud. I have cut off his pride: your prophecy shall not be thus, [no] not thus.

We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing.

7 Moab shall howl; for all shall howl in the land of Moab: but you shall care for them that dwell in Seth, and you shall not be ashamed.

Ah, let not Moab wail; let everyone wail for Moab. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth, utterly stricken.

8 The plains of Esebon shall mourn, the vine of Sebama: swallowing up the nations, trample you her vines, even to Jazer: you shall not come together; wander you in the desert: they that were sent are deserted, for they have gone over to the sea.

For the fields of Heshbon languish with the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad. They passed over the sea.

9 Therefore will I weep as with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sebama; Esebon and Eleale have cast down your trees; for I will trample on your harvest and on your vintages, and all [your plants] shall fall.

Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will saturate you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen.

10 And gladness and rejoicing shall be taken away from the vineyards; and they shall not at all tread wine into the vats; for [the vintage] has ceased.

Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing and there will be no jubilant shouting. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop.

11 Therefore my belly shall sound as a harp for Moab, and you have repaired my inward parts as a wall.

Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres.

12 And it shall be to your shame, (for Moab is wearied at the altars, ) that he shall go in to the idols thereof to pray, but they shall not be at all able to deliver him.

It will happen that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail.

13 This is the word which the Lord spoke against Moab, when he spoke.

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

14 And now I say, in three years, of the years of an hireling, the glory of Moab shall be dishonored [with] all his great wealth; and he shall be left few in number, and not honored.

But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble."