Isaiah 16

Modern

Literal

Moab’s Destruction

¹Send the tribute lambs

to the ruler of the land,

from Sela in the desert

to the mount of Daughter Zion.

¹Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

²Like fluttering birds

pushed out of the nest,

so are the daughters of Moab

at the fords of the Arnon:

²And it will come to pass that, like a fluttering bird or a nestling cast out, so shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.

³“Give us counsel;

render a decision.

Shelter us at noonday

with shade as dark as night.

Hide the refugees;

do not betray the one who flees.

³“Bring in counsel; make judgment; set like the night your shadow in the middle of noontime. Hide those driven away, do not uncover the one fleeing.

⁴Let my fugitives stay with you;

be a refuge for Moab from the destroyer.”

When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ceased,

and the oppressors have vanished from the land,

⁴Let sojourn among you the outcasts of Moab; be a shelter for them from the face of the destroyer.” For the extortioner comes to an end and destruction ceases; the tramplers of the land are finished off.

⁵in loving devotion^a a throne will be established

in the tent of David.

A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness

will sit on it in faithfulness.

⁵And in loving devotion a throne will be established, and one will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David—one judging and seeking justice, and hastening righteousness.

⁶We have heard of Moab’s pomposity,

his exceeding pride and conceit,

his overflowing arrogance.

But his boasting is empty.

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab—exceeding pride—of his arrogance and his pride and his wrath; not so are his lies.

⁷Therefore let Moab wail;

let them wail together for Moab.

Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth,

you who are utterly stricken.

⁷Therefore Moab will wail; let everyone wail for Moab; for the raisin-cakes of Kir-Hareseth you will mourn, utterly stricken.

⁸For the fields of Heshbon have withered,

along with the grapevines of Sibmah.

The rulers of the nations

have trampled its choicest vines,

which had reached as far as Jazer

and spread toward the desert.

Their shoots had spread out

and passed over the sea.^a

⁸For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have struck down its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer, and wandered to the desert—her branches stretched out and passed over the sea.

⁹So I weep with Jazer

for the vines of Sibmah;

I drench Heshbon and Elealeh

with my tears.

Triumphant shouts have fallen silent

over your summer fruit and your harvest.

⁹Upon thus I weep with the weeping of Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah, I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh. For over your summer fruit—over your summer fruit the shouting have fallen silent.

¹⁰Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard;

no one sings or shouts in the vineyards.

No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses;

I have put an end to the cheering.

¹⁰And gladness and rejoicing are gathered up from the field of planting, and in the vineyards there is no singing, and no shouting, and the wine in the presses, the treader does not tread; their shouting I have made cease.

¹¹Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp,

my inmost being for Kir-heres.^a

¹¹Upon thus my bowels do moan for Moab like a harp, and my inmost being for Kir-heres.

¹²When Moab appears on the high place,

when he wearies himself

and enters his sanctuary to pray,

it will do him no good.

¹²And it will come to pass, when it is seen that Moab has become weary on the high place, that he will come to his sanctuary to pray; he will not prevail.

¹³This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab.

¹³This is the word that YHWH has spoken to Moab from that time;

¹⁴And now the LORD says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble.”

¹⁴and YHWH has spoken, saying, “In three years, according to the years of a hireling, then the glory of Moab will be turned to dishonor, with all the great multitude; and the remnant is little—small, not mighty.”