Isaiah 16

1 Send a lamb [to] the ruler of the land, From Selah in the wilderness, To the mountain 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 And it has come to pass, As a wandering bird, cast out of a nest, Are daughters of Moab, [at] 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 in counsel, do judgment, Make your shadow as night in the midst of noon, Hide outcasts, do not reveal the wanderer.

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 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.

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 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.

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—very proud, His pride, and his arrogance, and his wrath—his boastings [are] not right.

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 Moab howls for Moab, all of it howls, It meditates for the grape-cakes of Kir-Hareseth, They are surely struck.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 sound as a harp for Moab, And my inward parts for Kir-Haresh.

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

12 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.

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 YHWH has spoken to Moab from that time,

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

14 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!”

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.