Isaiah 16 - Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 16

Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land,

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

Then, like fleeing birds or scattered nestlings,

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

“Bring us counsel, make a decision;

Cast your shadow like night at high noon;

Hide those banished, do not reveal the one who flees.

Let the banished of Moab sojourn 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.

And a throne will be established in lovingkindness,

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

Moreover, he will seek justice

And be prompt in righteousness.

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

Even of his lofty pride, pride, and fury;

His idle boasts are false.

Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.

You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir‑hareseth

As those who are utterly stricken.

For the fields of Heshbon have languished, 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.

Therefore 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.

Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful orchard;

In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or shouts of jubilation,

No treader treads out wine in the presses,

For I have made the shouting to cease.

Therefore my inner being moans like a harp for Moab

And my inward feelings for Kir‑hareseth.

So it will be when Moab appears,

When he wearies himself upon his high place

And comes to his sanctuary to pray,

That he will not prevail.

13 This is the word which Yahweh spoke earlier concerning Moab. 14 But now Yahweh speaks, saying, “Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be dishonored along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and not mighty.”