Isaiah 16
1 Send rams to the ruler of the land from Selah in the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
Send a lamb [to] the ruler of the land, From Selah in the wilderness, To the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2 As wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so the women of Moab are at the fords of the Arnon River.
And it has come to pass, As a wandering bird, cast out of a nest, Are daughters of Moab, [at] fords of Arnon.
3 “Give instruction, execute justice; provide some shade like night in the middle of the day; hide the fugitives; do not betray the fugitives.
Bring in counsel, do judgment, Make your shadow as night in the midst of noon, Hide outcasts, do not reveal the wanderer.
4 Let them live among you, the refugees from Moab; be a hiding place for them from the destroyer.” For the oppression will stop, and destruction will cease, those who trample will disappear from the land.
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.
5 A throne will be established in covenant faithfulness; and one from David's tent will faithfully sit there. He will judge as he seeks justice and does righteousness.
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.
6 We have heard of Moab's pride, his arrogance, his boasting, and his anger. But his boastings are empty words.
We have heard of the pride of Moab—very proud, His pride, and his arrogance, and his wrath—his boastings [are] not right.
7 So Moab wails for Moab—they all wail! Mourn, you who are utterly destroyed, for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.
Therefore Moab howls for Moab, all of it howls, It meditates for the grape-cakes of Kir-Hareseth, They are surely struck.
8 The fields of Heshbon have dried up as well as the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled the choice vines that reached to Jazer and spread into the desert. Its shoots spread abroad; they went over to the sea.
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.
9 Indeed I will weep along with Jazer for the vineyard of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh. For on your fields of summer fruits and harvest I have ended the shouts of joy.
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.
10 Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruit tree groves; and there is no singing, or shouts in the vineyards. No one treads out wine in the presses, for I have put an end to the shouts of the one who treads.
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.
11 So my heart sighs like a harp for Moab, and my inward being for Kir Hareseth.
Therefore my bowels sound as a harp for Moab, And my inward parts for Kir-Haresh.
12 When Moab wears himself out on the high place and enters his temple to pray, his prayers will accomplish nothing.
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.
13 This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab previously.
This [is] the word that YHWH has spoken to Moab from that time,
14 Again Yahweh speaks, “Within three years, the glory of Moab will disappear; in spite of his many people, the remnant will be very few and insignificant.”
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!”
