Isaiah 16
16
1Send the king of the land
the payment he demands.
Send a lamb from Sela through the desert
to the mountain of Jerusalem.
2The women of Moab
try to cross the river Arnon
like little birds
that have fallen from their nest.
3They say: “Help us.
Tell us what to do.
Protect us from our enemies
as shade protects us from the noon sun.
Hide us, because we are running for safety!
Don’t give us to our enemies.
4Let those of us who were forced out of Moab live in your land.
Hide us from our enemies.”
The robbing of Moab will stop.
The enemy will be defeated;
those who hurt others will disappear from the land.
5Then a new loyal king will come;
this faithful king will be from the family of David.
He will judge fairly
and do what is right.
6We have heard that the people of Moab are proud
and very conceited.
They are very proud and angry,
but their bragging means nothing.
7So the people of Moab will cry;
they will all be sad.
They will moan and groan
for the raisin cakes they had in Kir Hareseth.
8But the fields of Heshbon and the vines of Sibmah cannot grow grapes;
foreign rulers have destroyed the grapevines.
The grapevines once spread as far as the city of Jazer and into the desert;
they had spread as far as the sea.
9I cry with the people of Jazer
for the grapevines of Sibmah.
I will cry with the people of Heshbon and Elealeh.
There will be no shouts of joy,
because there will be no harvest or ripe fruit.
10There will be no joy and happiness in the orchards
and no songs or shouts of joy in the vineyards.
No one makes wine in the winepresses,
because I have put an end to shouts of joy.
11My heart cries for Moab like a harp playing a funeral song;
I am very sad for Kir Hareseth.
12The people of Moab will go to their places of worship
and will try to pray.
But when they go to their temple to pray,
they will not be able.
13Earlier the Lord said these things about Moab. 14Now the Lord says, “In three years all those people and what they take pride in will be hated. (This is three years as a hired helper would count time.) There will be a few people left, but they will be weak.”
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Isaiah 16: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 16
16
Moab's Hopeless Situation
1From the city of Sela in the desert the people of Moab send a lamb as a present to the one who rules in Jerusalem. 2They wait on the banks of the River Arnon and move aimlessly to and fro, like birds driven from their nest.
3They say to the people of Judah, “Tell us what to do. Protect us like a tree that casts a cool shadow in the heat of noon, and let us rest in your shade. We are refugees; hide us where no one can find us. 4Let us stay in your land. Protect us from those who want to destroy us.”
(Oppression and destruction will end, and those who are devastating the country will be gone. 5Then one of David's descendants will be king, and he will rule the people with faithfulness and love. He will be quick to do what is right, and he will see that justice is done.)
6The people of Judah say, “We have heard how proud the people of Moab are. We know that they are arrogant and conceited, but their boasts are empty.”
7The people of Moab will weep because of the troubles they suffer. They will all weep when they remember the fine food they used to eat in the city of Kir Heres. They will be driven to despair. 8The farms near Heshbon and the vineyards of Sibmah are destroyed — those vineyards whose wine used to make the rulers of the nations drunk. At one time the vines spread as far as the city of Jazer, and eastwards into the desert, and westwards to the other side of the Dead Sea. 9Now I weep for Sibmah's vines as I weep for Jazer. My tears fall for Heshbon and Elealeh, because there is no harvest to make the people glad. 10No one is happy now in the fertile fields. No one shouts or sings in the vineyards. No one tramples grapes to make wine; the shouts of joy are ended.#16.10 One ancient translation the shouts of joy are ended; Hebrew I have ended the shouts of joy. 11I groan with sadness for Moab, with grief for Kir Heres. 12The people of Moab wear themselves out going to their mountain shrines and to their temples to pray, but it will do them no good.
13That is the message the LORD gave earlier about Moab. 14And now the LORD says, “In exactly three years Moab's great wealth will disappear. Of its many people, only a few will survive, and they will be weak.”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.