Isaiah 16-18
1599 Geneva Bible
16 The causes wherefore the Moabites are destroyed.
1 Send [a]ye a lamb to the ruler of the world from the rock of the wilderness, unto the mountain of the daughter Zion.
2 For it shall be as a bird that [b]flieth, and a nest forsaken: the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
3 Gather a counsel, execute judgment, [c]make thy shadow as the night in the midday: hide them that are chased out: bewray not him that is fled.
4 Let my banished dwell with thee: Moab, be thou their covert from the face of the destroyer: for the extortioner [d]shall end: the destroyer shall be consumed, and the oppressor shall cease out of the land.
5 And in mercy shall the throne be prepared, [e]and he shall sit upon it in steadfastness, in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting justice.
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab (he is very proud) even his pride, and his arrogancy, and his indignation, but his [f]lies shall not be so.
7 Therefore shall Moab howl unto Moab, everyone shall howl: for the foundations of Kir Hareseth shall ye mourn, yet they shall be [g]stricken.
8 For the vineyards of Heshbon are cut down, and the vine of Sibmah: [h]the lords of the heathen have broken the principal vines thereof: they are come unto [i]Jazer: they wandered in the wilderness: her goodly branches stretched out themselves, and went over the sea.
9 Therefore will [j]I weep with the weeping of Jazer, and of the vine of Sibmah, O Heshbon: and Elealeh, I will make thee drunk with my tears, because upon thy summer fruits, and upon thy harvest [k]a shouting is fallen.
10 And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field: and in the vineyards shall be no singing nor shouting for joy: the treader shall not tread wine in the wine presses: I have caused the rejoicing to cease.
11 Wherefore, my [l]bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir Heres.
12 And when it shall appear that Moab shall be weary of his high places, then shall he come to his [m]temple to pray, but he shall not prevail.
13 This is the word that the Lord hath spoken against Moab since that time.
14 And now the Lord hath spoken, saying, [n]In three years as the years of an [o]hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned in all the great multitude, and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.
17 1 A prophecy of the destruction of Damascus and Ephraim, 7 calamity moveth to repentance.
1 The [p]burden of [q]Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, for it shall be a ruinous heap.
2 The cities of [r]Aroer shall be forsaken: they shall be for the flocks: for they shall lie there, and none shall make them afraid.
3 The munition also shall cease from [s]Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Aram shall be as the [t]glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 And in that day the glory of [u]Jacob shall be made clean.
5 And it shall be as when the harvest man gathereth [v]the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm, and he shall be as he that gathereth the ears in the valley of [w]Rephaim.
6 Yet a gathering of grapes shall [x]be left in it: as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries are in the top of the upmost boughs, and four or five in the high branches of the fruit thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel.
7 At that day shall a man look to his [y]maker, and his eyes shall look to the holy one of Israel.
8 And he shall not look to the altars, the works of his own hands, neither shall he look to those things which his own fingers have made, as groves and images.
9 In that day shall the cities of their strength be as the forsaking of boughs and branches, which [z]they did forsake, because of the children of Israel, and there shall be desolation.
10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not remembered the God of thy strength, therefore shalt thou set pleasant plants, and shalt graft strange [aa]vine branches.
11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be gone in the day [ab]of possession, and there shall be desperate sorrow.
12 [ac]Ah, the multitude of many people, they shall make a sound like the noise of the sea: for the noise of the people shall make a sound like the noise of mighty waters.
13 The people shall make a sound like the noise of many waters: but God shall [ad]rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and as a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And lo, in the evening there is [ae]trouble: but afore the morning it is gone. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
18 1 Of the enemies of the Church. 7 And of the vocation of the Gentiles.
1 Oh, the [af]land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
2 Sending ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of [ag]reeds upon the waters, saying, [ah]Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation that is scattered abroad, and spoiled, unto a terrible [ai]people from their beginning even hitherto: a nation by little and little even trodden under foot: whose land the [aj]floods have spoiled.
3 All ye the inhabitants of the world, and dwellers in the earth, shall see when [ak]he setteth up a sign in the mountains, and when he bloweth the trumpet, ye shall hear.
4 For so the Lord said unto me, I will [al]rest and behold in my tabernacle, as [am]the heat drying up the rain, and as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 For afore the harvest, when the flour is finished, and the fruit is ripening in the flour, then he shall cut down the branches with hooks, and shall take away, and cut off the boughs:
6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the [an]beasts of the earth: for the fowl shall summer upon it, and every beast of the earth shall winter upon it.
7 At that time shall a [ao]present be brought unto the Lord of hosts (a people that is scattered abroad, and spoiled, and of a terrible people from their beginning hitherto, a nation by little and little even trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled) to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, even the mount Zion.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 16:1 That is, offer a sacrifice, whereby he derideth their long delay, which would not repent when the Lord called them, showing them that it is now too late, seeing the vengeance of God is upon them.
- Isaiah 16:2 There is no remedy, but you must flee.
- Isaiah 16:3 He showeth what Moab should have done, when Israel their neighbor was in affliction, to whom because they would give no shadow nor comfort, they are now left comfortless.
- Isaiah 16:4 The Assyrians shall oppress the Israelites, but for a while.
- Isaiah 16:5 Meaning, Christ.
- Isaiah 16:6 Their vain confidence, and proud brags shall deceive them, Jer. 48:2.
- Isaiah 16:7 For all your mourning, yet the city shall be destroyed, even unto the foundation.
- Isaiah 16:8 That is, the Assyrians and other enemies.
- Isaiah 16:8 Meaning, that the country of Moab was now destroyed, and all the precious things thereof were carried into the borders, yea into other countries, and over the sea.
- Isaiah 16:9 He showeth that their plague was so great, that it would have moved any man to lament with them, as Ps. 141:5.
- Isaiah 16:9 The enemies are come upon thee, and shout for joy, when they carry thy commodities from thee, as Jer. 48:33.
- Isaiah 16:11 For very sorrow and compassion.
- Isaiah 16:12 They shall use all means to seek help of their idols, and all in vain: for Chemosh their great god shall not be able to help them.
- Isaiah 16:14 He appointed a certain time to punish the enemies in.
- Isaiah 16:14 Who will observe justly the time for the which he is hired, and serve no longer, but will ever long for it.
- Isaiah 17:1 Read Isa. 13:1.
- Isaiah 17:1 The chief city of Syria.
- Isaiah 17:2 It was a country of Syria by the river Arnon.
- Isaiah 17:3 It seemeth that the Prophet would comfort the Church in declaring the destruction of these two kings of Syria and Israel, when as they had conspired the overthrow of Judah.
- Isaiah 17:3 The ten tribes gloried in their multitude and alliance with other nations: therefore he saith that they shall be brought down, and the Syrians also.
- Isaiah 17:4 Meaning, of the ten tribes, which boasted themselves of their nobility, prosperity, strength and multitude.
- Isaiah 17:5 As the abundance of corn doth not fear the harvest men that should cut it down: no more shall the multitude of Israel make the enemies to shrink, whom God shall appoint to destroy them.
- Isaiah 17:5 Which valley was plentiful and fertile.
- Isaiah 17:6 Because God would have his covenant stable, he promiseth to reserve some of this people, and to bring them to repentance.
- Isaiah 17:7 He showeth that God’s corrections ever bring forth some fruit, and cause his to turn from their sins, and to humble themselves to him.
- Isaiah 17:9 As the Canaanites left their cities when God did place the Israelites there, so the cities of Israel shall no more be able to defend their inhabitants than bushes, when God shall send the enemy to plague them.
- Isaiah 17:10 Which are excellent, and brought out of other countries.
- Isaiah 17:11 As the Lord threateneth the wicked in his Law, Lev. 26:16.
- Isaiah 17:12 The Prophet lamenteth, considering the horrible plague that was prepared against Israel by the Assyrians, which were infinite in number, and gathered of many nations.
- Isaiah 17:13 He addeth this for the consolation of the faithful which were in Israel.
- Isaiah 17:14 He compareth the enemies the Assyrians to a tempest, which riseth overnight, and in the morning is gone.
- Isaiah 18:1 He meaneth that part of Ethiopia, which lieth toward the sea, which was so full of ships that the sails (which he compareth to wings) seemed to shadow the sea.
- Isaiah 18:2 Which in those countries were great, insomuch as they made ships of them for swiftness.
- Isaiah 18:2 This may be taken, that they sent others to comfort the Jews, and to promise them help against their enemies, and so the Lord did threaten to take away their strength, that the Jews should not trust therein: or that they did solicit the Egyptians, and promised them aid to go against Judah.
- Isaiah 18:2 To wit, the Jews, who because of God’s plague, made all other nations afraid of the like, as God threatened, Deut. 28:37.
- Isaiah 18:2 Meaning, the Assyrians, as Isa. 8:7.
- Isaiah 18:3 When the Lord prepared to fight against the Ethiopians.
- Isaiah 18:4 I will stay a while from punishing the wicked.
- Isaiah 18:4 Which two seasons are most profitable for the ripening of fruits, whereby he meaneth, that he will seem to favor them, and give them abundance for a time, but he will suddenly cut them off.
- Isaiah 18:6 Not only men shall contemn them, but the brute beasts.
- Isaiah 18:7 Meaning, that God will pity his Church, and receive that little remnant as an offering unto himself.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
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