Isaiah Chapter 16

¹ Send tribute lambs to the ruler of the land,

                              from Sela through the desert to Mount Zion.

                        ² At the Arnon fords the women of Moab will be

                              left fluttering like birds or homeless nestlings.

Is 16:1-2

                        ³ “Give us advice, grant us justice;

                                    cast your shadow on us like night at noon

                                    to hide us outcasts; don’t betray us fugitives.

                        ⁴ Let our refugees from Moab stay among you;

                                    hide us from the destroyer.”

                              When oppression and destruction end

                                    and raiders have left the land,

                                    God will establish one of David’s descendants as king;

                              ⁵ he will set up a throne in enduring love,                               

                                    and a faithful judge will sit on it in David’s tent.

                              He’ll rule with mercy and truth,

                                    strive for justice,

                                    and measure out goodness in timely fashion.

Is 16:3-5

                        ⁶ We’ve heard about Moab’s excessive pride,

                              its arrogance and fury;

                                    its idle boasts have proved to be false.

                        ⁷ So everyone in Moab will moan

                              for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth

                                    like people completely stricken.

                        ⁸ The fields of Heshbon will wither; 

                                    the vineyards of Sibmah too.

                              The lords of the nations will tramp on its choice clusters

                                    whose tendrils reach out as far as Jazer

                                          and spread to the eastern desert,

                                    whose shoots have grown westward even across the Dead Sea.

Is 16:6-8

                        ⁹ So I’ll weep bitterly for Jazer and the wine of Sibmah;

                              I’ll drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh,

                                    because the happy shouts over your summer fruits

                                          and harvest have died out.

                        ¹⁰ Happiness will be gone from the productive fields;

                                    there’ll be no joyful shouting in the vineyards.

                              Nobody will be treading out wine in the wine presses;

                                    I’ll make the shouting stop.

                        ¹¹ So my heart moans for Moab like a dirge on a harp;

                              my heart aches for Kir-hareseth.

                        ¹² When the people of Moab

                              wear themselves out in worship at their shrines

                                    and come to their sanctuary to pray,

                                    it won’t do them any good.                                        

Is 16:9-12

¹³ Yahveh spoke that message earlier about Moab. ¹⁴ Now he says, “In three years, like a hired hand under contract would count them, I’ll humble Moab’s pride and decimate its sizeable population. Its survivors will be few and feeble.”

Is 16:13-14