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.

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

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

3 Bring in counsel, do judgment, Make your shadow as night in the midst of noon, Hide outcasts, do not reveal the wanderer.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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; [that] he is very proud: of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath, his groundless lies.

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

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

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.

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.

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, 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.

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 [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.

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

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

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 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].

13 This [is] the word that YHWH has spoken to Moab from that time,

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

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!”

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.