Isaiah 15-18

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Ar in Moab is devastated,^(B)
destroyed in a night.
Kir in Moab is devastated,
destroyed in a night.
² Dibon went up to its temple
to weep at its high places.
Moab wails on Nebo and at^[a] Medeba.
Every head is shaved;
every beard is cut off.
³ In its streets they wear sackcloth;
on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails,
falling down and weeping.
⁴ Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.^(C)
Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out,
and they tremble.^[b]
5 My heart cries out over Moab,
whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar,^(D)
to Eglath-shelishiyah;
they go up the slope of Luhith weeping;
they raise a cry of destruction
on the road to Horonaim.
⁶ The waters of Nimrim^(E) are desolate;
the grass is withered, the foliage is gone,
and the vegetation has vanished.
⁷ So they carry their wealth and belongings
over the Wadi of the Willows.^(F)
8 For their cry echoes
throughout the territory of Moab.
Their wailing reaches Eglaim;
their wailing reaches Beer-elim.
⁹ The waters of Dibon^[c] are full of blood,^(G)
but I will bring on Dibon^[d] even more than this—
a lion for those who escape from Moab,
and for the survivors in the land.^(H)

16 Send lambs to the ruler of the land,^(I)
from Sela in the desert^(J)
to the mountain of Daughter Zion.
² Like a bird fleeing,
forced from the nest,
the daughters of Moab
will be at the fords of the Arnon.

³ Give us counsel and make a decision.
Shelter us at noonday
with shade that is as dark as night.
Hide the refugees;^(K)
do not betray the one who flees.
⁴ Let my refugees stay with you;
be a refuge for Moab^[e] from the aggressor.

When the oppressor has gone,
destruction has ended,
and marauders have vanished from the land.
⁵ Then in the tent of David
a throne will be established by faithful love.^(L)
A judge who seeks what is right
and is quick to execute justice
will sit on the throne forever.

⁶ We have heard of Moab’s pride^(M)—
how very proud he is—
his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,
and his empty boasting.
⁷ Therefore let Moab wail;
let every one of them wail for Moab.
Mourn, you who are completely devastated,
for the raisin cakes^(N) of Kir-hareseth.^(O)
8 For 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^(P)
and spread to the desert.
Their shoots spread out
and reached the Dead Sea.^(Q)
9 So I join with Jazer
to weep for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears.
Triumphant shouts have fallen silent^[f]
over your summer fruit and your harvest.
¹⁰ Joy and rejoicing^(R) have been removed from the orchard;
no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards.^(S)
No one tramples grapes^[g] in the winepresses.
I have put an end to the shouting.
¹¹ Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab,^(T)
as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.
¹² When Moab appears on the high place,
when he tires^[h] himself out^(U)
and comes to his sanctuary to pray,
it will do him no good.^(V)

Look, Damascus is no longer a city.
It has become a ruined heap.
² The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
they will be places for flocks.
They will lie down without fear.
³ The fortress disappears from Ephraim,^(Z)
and a kingdom from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

⁹ On that day their strong cities will be
like the abandoned woods and mountaintops^[j]
that were abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.
¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and you have failed to remember
the rock of your strength;^(AG)
therefore you will plant beautiful plants
and set out cuttings from exotic vines.
¹¹ On the day that you plant,
you will help them to grow,
and in the morning
you will help your seed to sprout,
but the harvest will vanish
on the day of disease and incurable pain.

Go, swift messengers,
to a nation tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people feared far and near,
a powerful nation with a strange language,^[l]
whose land is divided by rivers.
³ All you inhabitants of the world
and you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet sounds, listen!

I will quietly look out from My place,
like shimmering heat in sunshine,
like a rain cloud in harvest heat.
⁵ For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over
and the blossom becomes a ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife,
and tear away and remove the branches.
⁶ They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills
and for the wild animals of the land.
The birds will spend the summer on them,
and all the animals, the winter on them.