16 Send a ram[a] to the ruler of the land,
from Sela across the desert to the mountain of daughter Zion.[b]
2 And this shall be:
like a bird fleeing from a thrust away nest
shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon.
3 “Bring counsel,
make a decision;
make your shade like the night
in the middle of noonday.
Hide the outcasts;
you must not betray the fugitive.
4 Let my outcasts of Moab dwell as aliens among you;
be a hiding place for them from the presence of the destroyer.”
When the oppressor is no more, destruction has stopped,
the one who tramples has[c] disappeared from the land,
5 then a throne shall be established in steadfast love,
and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David,
judging and seeking justice
and zealous for righteousness.
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab—exceedingly proud—
of his arrogance, pride, and insolence; his boasting is not true.[d]
7 Therefore Moab wails;
all of it wails for Moab,
for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you moan, utterly devastated.[e]
8 For Heshbon withers the fields, the vine of Sibmah;
rulers of nations have broken down her tendrils,
they reached up to Jazer,
they wandered to the desert;
her shoots spread abroad,
they crossed over the sea.
9 Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah.
I drench you with my tears,[f] Heshbon and Elealeh,
for a jubilant shout has fallen over your summer fruit and harvest.
10 And joy and gladness are[g] taken away from the fruitful land,
and in the vineyards no one exults,
no one shouts for joy;
no treader treads wine in the presses;
I have put to an end to the jubilant shout.
11 Therefore my heart moans[h] like a harp for Moab
and my inner parts for Kir-heres.
12 And this shall happen:
when Moab appears, when it is weary upon the high place
and it comes to its sanctuary to pray, it will not prevail.
13 This was the word that Yahweh spoke to Moab in the past.[i] 14 But now Yahweh speaks, saying, “In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will become contemptible, with all of the great multitude, and the remnant will be a few, small, not strong.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 16:1 Possibly “rams” if a scribe accidentally omitted the Hebrew plural ending because the next word begins with that same letter
- Isaiah 16:1 Literally “the daughter of Zion”
- Isaiah 16:4 Literally “one who tramples have,” with mismatched singular and plural
- Isaiah 16:6 Literally “not so his boasting”
- Isaiah 16:7 Literally “surely destroyed”
- Isaiah 16:9 Hebrew “tear”
- Isaiah 16:10 The Hebrew is singular
- Isaiah 16:11 Literally “intestines moan,”; in Hebrew, the “intestines” are the seat of the emotions, which would correspond to the “heart” in English
- Isaiah 16:13 Literally “from then”