Isaiah 16

Prophecy of Moab's Devastation

1Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land,

From Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

2Then, like fleeing birds or scattered nestlings,

The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.

3“Give us advice, make a decision;

Cast your shadow like night at high noon;

Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.

4“Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you;

Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.”

For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased,

Oppressors have completely disappeared from the land.

5A throne will even be established in lovingkindness,

And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David;

Moreover, he will seek justice

And be prompt in righteousness.

6We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;

Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury;

His idle boasts are false.

7Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.

You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth

As those who are utterly stricken.

8For the fields of Heshbon have withered, the vines of Sibmah as well;

The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters

Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts;

Its tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea.

9Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah;

I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh;

For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.

10Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;

In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting,

No treader treads out wine in the presses,

For I have made the shouting to cease.

11Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab

And my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth.

12So it will come about when Moab presents himself,

When he wearies himself upon his high place

And comes to his sanctuary to pray,

That he will not prevail.

13This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab.

14But now the Lord speaks, saying, “Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and impotent.”