Isaiah 16

¹Isaiah 16:1. Send the tribute lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mount of Daughter Zion.²Isaiah 16:2. Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon:³Isaiah 16:3. “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.⁴Isaiah 16:4. Let 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,⁵Isaiah 16:5. in loving devotion a throne will be established in the tent of David. A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness will sit on it in faithfulness.⁶Isaiah 16:6. We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.⁷Isaiah 16:7. Therefore let Moab wail; let them wail together for Moab. Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, you who are utterly stricken.⁸Isaiah 16:8. For 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.⁹Isaiah 16:9. So 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.¹⁰Isaiah 16:10. Joy 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.¹¹Isaiah 16:11. Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.¹²Isaiah 16:12. When Moab appears on the high place, when he wearies himself and enters his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.¹³Isaiah 16:13. This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab.¹⁴Isaiah 16:14. And 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.”