Isaiah 16
16
1Send lambs to the ruler of the land,#2Kg 3:4
from Sela in the desert#2Kg 14:7; Is 42:11
to the mountain of Daughter Zion.
2Like a bird fleeing,
forced from the nest,
the daughters of Moab
will be at the fords of the Arnon.
3Give us counsel and make a decision.
Shelter us at noonday
with shade that is as dark as night.
Hide the refugees;#1Kg 18:4
do not betray the one who flees.
4Let my refugees stay with you;
be a refuge for Moab#16:4 Or you; Moab — be a refuge for him from the aggressor.
When the oppressor has gone,
destruction has ended,
and marauders have vanished from the land,
5a throne will be established in love,#Is 9:6–7; 32:1; 55:4; Dn 7:14; Mc 4:7; Lk 1:33
and one will sit on it faithfully#16:5 Or continually
in the tent of David,
judging and pursuing what is right,
quick to execute justice.
6We have heard of Moab’s pride#Jr 48:29; Am 2:1; Ob 3–4; Zph 2:8,10 —
how very proud he is —
his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,
and his empty boasting.
7Therefore let Moab wail;
let every one of them wail for Moab.
You who are completely devastated, mourn
for the raisin cakes#2Sm 6:19; 1Ch 16:3; Sg 2:5; Hs 3:1 of Kir-hareseth.#2Kg 3:25; Jr 48:31
8For Heshbon’s terraced vineyards
and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered.
The rulers of the nations
have trampled its choice vines
that reached as far as Jazer#Nm 21:32; Jos 13:25
and spread to the desert.
Their shoots spread out
and reached the sea.#Jr 48:32
9So I join with Jazer
to weep for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears.
Triumphant shouts have fallen silent#16:9 Or Battle cries have fallen
over your summer fruit and your harvest.
10Joy and rejoicing#Is 24:8; Jr 48:33 have been removed from the orchard;
no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards.#Jdg 9:27; Is 24:7; Am 5:11,17
No one tramples grapes#16:10 Lit wine in the winepresses.
I have put an end to the shouting.
11Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab,#Is 15:5; 63:15; Jr 48:36; Hs 11:8; Php 2:1
as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.
12When Moab appears
and tires himself out on the high place#1Kg 18:29
and comes to his sanctuary to pray,
it will do him no good.#Is 15:2
13This is the message that the Lord previously announced about Moab. 14And now the Lord says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts years,#Jb 7:1; 14:6; Is 21:16 Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak.”
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Isaiah 16: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
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.