Isaiah 16

1 Send ye the lamb due to the ruler of the land, From Sela towards the desert, —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 Yet shall it be that—Like wandering birds from a nest cast forth, Shall be the daughters of Moab, at the fords of Arnon.

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 Bring thou, in counsel, Execute thou judgment, Make as the night, thy shadow in the midst of high noon, —Hide thou the outcasts, The wanderer, do not thou reveal.

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 mine own outcasts, sojourn with thee, O Moab, become thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler, —For vanished is the oppressor, At an end is extortion, They who tread down have ceased out of 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 So shall be established, in lovingkindness, a throne, And one shall sit thereon, in truth, in the home of David, —Judging—and seeking justice and speeding 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 judgments, and hasting righteousness.

6 We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, Proud exceedingly! His haughtiness and his arrogance and his passion, Not true, are his 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, All that belong to her, shall wail, —For the ruins of Kir-hareseth, shall they moan out Utterly stricken!

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 are withered—The vine of Sibmah, the owners of nations, have broken off ruddy branches, Unto Jazer, had they reached, They had spread abroad to the desert, —Her boughs, had stretched forth, had gone over to 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 For this cause, will I bewail, in the wailing of Jazer, The vine of Sibmah, I will drench thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh, —For, upon thy fruit-harvest, and upon thy grain-harvest, the battle-shout, hath 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 Now shall be withdrawn rejoicing and exultation out of the garden-land, And, in the vineyards, shall be neither singing nor shouting, —Wine in the winepress, the treader, shall not tread, The vintage-shout, have I made 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 For this cause, mine inward parts—for Moab, like a lyre, shall make a plaintive sound, —Yea what is within me, for Kir-heres.

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

12 And it shall be—When it is seen that Moab hath laboured in vain on the high place, He shall enter into his holy place to pray, and shall 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 Yahweh spake concerning Moab in, time past;

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

14 But now, hath Yahweh spoken saying, In three years, —as the years of a hireling, shall the glory of Moab be diminished, with all the great multitude, —even a very small remnant, of no account.

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.