< Isaiah 16 >

1 [The rulers of Moab will say to each other, ] “We must send some [lambs] from Sela [city] as a gift to the ruler of Judah [to persuade him to not allow his army to attack us any more]. We should send them through the desert to the king.
Send forth, O Lord, the lamb, the ruler of the earth, from Petra of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Sion.
2 The women of Moab will be left alone at the (fords of/places where people can walk across) the Arnon [River]; they will be like [SIM] birds that have been pushed out of their nests.
And it shall come to pass, that as a bird fleeing away, and as young ones flying out of the nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be in the passage of Arnon.
3 They will cry out, ‘Help us! Tell us what we should do! Protect us completely [MET], we who are running away [from our enemies], and do not (betray us/tell our enemies where we are).
Take counsel, gather a council: make thy shadow as the night in the midday: hide them that flee, and betray not them that wander about.
4 Allow [those of us] who are fleeing from Moab to stay with you; hide/protect us from [our enemies who want to] destroy us!’ [Some day] there will be no one to oppress us, and our enemies will stop destroying [our land].
My fugitives shall dwell with thee: O Moab, be thou a covert to them from the face of the destroyer: for the dust is at an end, the wretch is consumed: he hath failed, that trod the earth under foot.
5 Then [Yahweh] will appoint someone to be king who will be [a descendant of King] David. As he rules [MTY], he will be merciful and truthful. He will always do what is fair/just and quickly do what is righteous.”
And a throne shall be prepared in mercy, and one shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment and quickly rendering that which is just.
6 We [people of Judah] have heard about [the people of] Moab; we have heard that they are very proud and conceited [DOU]; they are insolent, but what they proudly say about themselves is not true.
We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his pride and his arrogancy, and his indignation is more than his strength.
7 [Some day all the people in] Moab will weep. They will all mourn, because [there will be no more] raisin cakes in Kir-Hareseth [city].
Therefore shall Moab howl to Moab, every one shall howl: to them that rejoice upon the brick walls, tell ye their stripes.
8 The [crops in] the fields at Heshbon [city] will wither, and the vineyards at Sibmah [town] will wither also. The armies of [other] nations will destroy Moab, which is [like] [MET] a beautiful grapevine whose branches spread [north] to Jazer [town] and [east] to the desert. Its branches spread very far [west], to the west side of the [Dead] Sea.
For the suburbs of Hesebon are desolate, and the lords of the nations have destroyed the vineyard of Sabama: the branches thereof have reached even to Jazer: they have wandered in the wilderness, the branches thereof are left, they are gone over the sea.
9 So I will weep for Jazer and for the grapevines of Sibmah. I will shed tears for all of you. I will cry because people will no longer shout joyfully, like they usually do when they gather the fruit that ripens in the (summer/hot season) and the other crops that they harvest.
Therefore I will lament with the weeping of Jazer the vineyard of Sabama: I will water thee with my tears, O Hesebon, and Eleale: for the voice of the treaders hath rushed in upon thy vintage, and upon thy harvest.
10 People will no longer be glad at harvest time. No one will sing in the vineyards, no one will shout joyfully. No one will tread on grapes [to get grape juice for wine]; there will be nothing to shout about [joyfully].
And gladness and joy shall be taken away from Carmel, and there shall be no rejoicing nor shouting in the vineyards. He shall not tread out wine in the press that was wont to tread it out: the voice of the treaders I have taken away.
11 I cry inwardly for Moab; my groaning is like [SIM] [a sad song played on] a harp. I am sad about Kir-Hareseth.
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for the brick wall.
12 [The people of] Moab will go and pray at their sacred shrines, but that will not help them. They will cry out to their gods in their temples, [but] none of them will be able to rescue the people.
And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is wearied on his high places, that he shall go in to his sanctuaries to pray, and shall not prevail.
13 Yahweh has already spoken those things about Moab.
This is the word, that the Lord spoke to Moab from that time:
14 But now he says that exactly three years from now, he will destroy all the things that [the people of] Moab have been proud of. Even though they have a huge number of people in Moab now, only a few people will remain alive, and they will be weak/helpless.
And now the Lord hath spoken, saying: In three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be taken away for all the multitude of the people, and it shall be left small and feeble, not many.

< Isaiah 16 >