1People of Moab, send lambs as a gift to the ruler of Judah. Send them from Sela. Send them across the desert. Send them to Mount Zion in the city of Jerusalem.2The women of Moab are at the places where people go across the River Arnon. They are like birds that flap their wings when they are pushed from their nest.3The Moabites say to the rulers of Judah, ‘Make up your mind. Make a decision. Cover us with your shadow. Make it like night even at noon. Hide those of us who are running away. Don’t turn them over to their enemies.4Let those who have run away from Moab stay with you. Keep them safe from those who are trying to destroy them.’ Those who crush others will be destroyed. The killing will stop. The attackers will disappear from the earth.5A man from the royal house of David will sit on Judah’s throne. He will rule with faithful love. When he judges he will do what is fair. He will be quick to do what is right.6We have heard all about Moab’s pride. We have heard how very proud they are. They think they are so much better than others. They boast about themselves. But all their boasting is nothing but empty words.7So the people of Moab cry out. All of them cry over their country. Sing a song of sadness. Weep that you can no longer enjoy the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.8The fields of Heshbon dry up. So do the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have walked all over its finest vines. Those vines once reached as far as Jazer. They spread out towards the desert. Their new growth went all the way to the Dead Sea.9Jazer weeps for the vines of Sibmah. And so do I. Heshbon and Elealeh, I soak you with my tears! There isn’t any ripe fruit for people to shout about. There isn’t any harvest to make them happy.10Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards. No one sings or shouts in the vineyards. No one treads grapes at the winepresses. That’s because the LORD has put an end to the shouting.11My heart mourns over Moab like a song of sadness played on a harp. Deep down inside me I mourn over Kir Hareseth.12Moab’s people go to their high place to pray. But all they do is wear themselves out. Their god Chemosh can’t help them at all.13That’s the message the LORD has already spoken against Moab.14But now he says, ‘In exactly three years, people will look down on Moab’s glory. Now Moab has many people. But by that time only a few of them will be left alive. And even they will be weak.’
Isaiah 16
English Standard Version
1Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela, by way of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Zion. (2Ki 3:4; 2Ki 14:7; Isa 42:11)2Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. (Jud 11:18)3“Give counsel; grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; shelter the outcasts; do not reveal the fugitive; (1Ki 18:4)4let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you; be a shelter to them[1] from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, (1Sa 22:3)5then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness.” (Isa 32:1; Da 7:14; Da 7:27; Mic 4:7; Lu 1:33)6We have heard of the pride of Moab— how proud he is!— of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; in his idle boasting he is not right. (Jud 3:14; 2Ki 13:20; 2Ch 20:1; Jer 48:29; Zep 2:10)7Therefore let Moab wail for Moab, let everyone wail. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth. (2Sa 6:19; 2Ki 3:25; Isa 15:1; Isa 15:3; Isa 16:9)8For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have struck down its branches, which reached to Jazer and strayed to the desert; its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea. (Jer 48:32)9Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for over your summer fruit and your harvest the shout has ceased. (Isa 15:5; Isa 16:7; Isa 16:8)10And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting. (Jud 9:27; Isa 5:2; Isa 9:3; Isa 63:3; Jer 25:30; Jer 48:33)11Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth. (Isa 15:5; Jer 48:36)12And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail. (Nu 22:41; Nu 23:14; Nu 23:28; 1Ki 18:29; Isa 15:2)13This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past. (Am 2:1)14But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be very few and feeble.” (Isa 10:22; Isa 21:16)