Isaiah 16

1 Send ye the lambs of the ruler of the land from Sela', through the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

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

2 For it shall be, that, as a fugitive bird, as a chased nest, so shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon.

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,

3 Bring counsel, execute justice; render like the night thy shadow in the midst of the noonday; conceal the outcasts; betray not the fugitive.

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.

4 Let my outcasts sojourn with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the waster: till ceaseth the extortion, past be the wasting, and vanished be the oppressor out of the land.

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.

5 And there shall be founded through kindness a throne; and there shall sit upon it in truthfulness in the tent of David a judge who seeketh justice, and is quick in righteousness.

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 judgements, and hasting righteousness.

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; [that] he is very proud: of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath, his groundless lies.

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.

7 Therefore shall Moab wail for Moab, every one shall wail; for the strong walls of Kir-charesseth shall ye lament, deeply stricken.

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.

8 For the fields of Cheshbon are withered, the vine of Sibmah —the lords of nations have beaten down its branches, they did reach as far as Ya'zer, into the wilderness did they wander; its tendrils were stretched forth, they passed over the sea.

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.

9 Therefore will I weep, when weeping for Ya'zer, for the vine of Sibmah: I will moisten thee richly with my tears, O Cheshbon, and El'aleh; for over [the gathering of] thy summer fruits and over thy harvest the battle-cry is fallen.

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.

10 And [thus] are taken away joy and gladness out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards shall be no singing, shall be no joyful shout: in the presses shall the treader not tread out wine; I have stopped the harvest-call.

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.

11 Therefore my bowels shall groan for Moab like a harp, and my inward parts for Kir-charess.

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

12 And it shall come to pass, that it shall be seen that Moab is weary on the high-places; and he will come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not accomplish [aught].

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.

13 This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab in former times.

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

14 But now hath the Lord spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hired laborer, shall the glory of Moab be rendered mean with all this [his] great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and inconsiderable.

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