Isaiah 16

1 Send ye the lambs to the ruler of the land, From Selah through the wilderness To 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 as a wandering bird, As a forthdriven nest, So shall be the daughters of Moab At the fords of Arnon; [[saying, ]]

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

3 “Offer counsel; give decision, Make thy shadow at noonday like the darkness of night. Hide the outcasts; Betray not the fugitives.

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

4 Let my outcasts dwell with thee, [[O Zion!]] Be thou to them a covert from the spoiler! For the extortion is at an end, The spoiling ceaseth. The oppressors are consumed from the land.

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

5 Then shall your throne be established through mercy, And upon it shall sit in the house of David A judge searching for justice, and prompt in equity.”

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.

6 “We have beard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud; His haughtiness, and his pride, and his insolence, His vain boastings.”

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

7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab; Every one shall howl; For the ruins of Kir-hares shall ye mourn, In deep affliction.

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

8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, The lords of the nations break down the choicest shoots of the vine of Sibmah, They reached even to Jazer; they wandered into the desert; Her branches were spread out; they crossed the sea.

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

9 Therefore I will weep, like Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealah, For upon thy summer fruits, and thy harvest, the war-shout is fallen.

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

10 Gladness and joy are driven from the fruitful field, And in the vineyards is no singing nor shouting; The treaders tread out no wine in their vats; I have made the vintage-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 shall my bowels sound like a harp for Moab, And my inward parts for Kir-hares.

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

12 And it shall come to pass that though Moab present himself, Though he weary himself upon his high places, And go up to his sanctuary to pray, Yet shall he not prevail.

And it shall be to thy 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 which Jehovah spake concerning Moab of old.

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

14 But now saith Jehovah: Within three years, like the years of a hireling, The glory of Moab shall be put to shame, With all his great multitude; And the remnant shall be very small, and without strength.

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.