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Isaiah 16-18
New International Version
Isaiah 16-18
New International Version
16 Send lambs(A) as tribute(B)
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela,(C) across the desert,
to the mount of Daughter Zion.(D)
2 Like fluttering birds
pushed from the nest,(E)
so are the women of Moab(F)
at the fords(G) of the Arnon.(H)
3 “Make up your mind,” Moab says.
“Render a decision.
Make your shadow like night—
at high noon.
Hide the fugitives,(I)
do not betray the refugees.
4 Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;
be their shelter(J) from the destroyer.”
The oppressor(K) will come to an end,
and destruction will cease;(L)
the aggressor will vanish from the land.
5 In love a throne(M) will be established;(N)
in faithfulness a man will sit on it—
one from the house[a] of David(O)—
one who in judging seeks justice(P)
and speeds the cause of righteousness.
6 We have heard of Moab’s(Q) pride(R)—
how great is her arrogance!—
of her conceit, her pride and her insolence;
but her boasts are empty.
7 Therefore the Moabites wail,(S)
they wail together for Moab.
Lament and grieve
for the raisin cakes(T) of Kir Hareseth.(U)
8 The fields of Heshbon(V) wither,(W)
the vines of Sibmah(X) also.
The rulers of the nations
have trampled down the choicest vines,(Y)
which once reached Jazer(Z)
and spread toward the desert.
Their shoots spread out(AA)
and went as far as the sea.[b](AB)
9 So I weep,(AC) as Jazer weeps,
for the vines of Sibmah.
Heshbon and Elealeh,(AD)
I drench you with tears!(AE)
The shouts of joy(AF) over your ripened fruit
and over your harvests(AG) have been stilled.
10 Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards;(AH)
no one sings or shouts(AI) in the vineyards;
no one treads(AJ) out wine at the presses,(AK)
for I have put an end to the shouting.
11 My heart laments for Moab(AL) like a harp,(AM)
my inmost being(AN) for Kir Hareseth.
12 When Moab appears at her high place,(AO)
she only wears herself out;
when she goes to her shrine(AP) to pray,
it is to no avail.(AQ)
13 This is the word the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab. 14 But now the Lord says: “Within three years,(AR) as a servant bound by contract(AS) would count them,(AT) Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised,(AU) and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”(AV)
A Prophecy Against Damascus
17 A prophecy(AW) against Damascus:(AX)
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins.(AY)
2 The cities of Aroer(AZ) will be deserted
and left to flocks,(BA) which will lie down,(BB)
with no one to make them afraid.(BC)
3 The fortified(BD) city will disappear from Ephraim,
and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory(BE) of the Israelites,”(BF)
declares the Lord Almighty.
4 “In that day(BG) the glory(BH) of Jacob will fade;
the fat of his body will waste(BI) away.
5 It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
gathering(BJ) the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain(BK)
in the Valley of Rephaim.(BL)
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,(BM)
as when an olive tree is beaten,(BN)
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 In that day(BO) people will look(BP) to their Maker(BQ)
and turn their eyes to the Holy One(BR) of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,(BS)
the work of their hands,(BT)
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles[c](BU)
and the incense altars their fingers(BV) have made.
9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth.(BW) And all will be desolation.
10 You have forgotten(BX) God your Savior;(BY)
you have not remembered the Rock,(BZ) your fortress.(CA)
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
and plant imported vines,(CB)
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
and on the morning(CC) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest(CD) will be as nothing(CE)
in the day of disease and incurable(CF) pain.(CG)
12 Woe to the many nations that rage(CH)—
they rage like the raging sea!(CI)
Woe to the peoples who roar(CJ)—
they roar like the roaring of great waters!(CK)
13 Although the peoples roar(CL) like the roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes(CM) them they flee(CN) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff(CO) on the hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale.(CP)
14 In the evening, sudden(CQ) terror!(CR)
Before the morning, they are gone!(CS)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
A Prophecy Against Cush
18 Woe(CT) to the land of whirring wings[d]
along the rivers of Cush,[e](CU)
2 which sends envoys(CV) by sea
in papyrus(CW) boats over the water.
Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,(CX)
to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive(CY) nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers.(CZ)
3 All you people of the world,(DA)
you who live on the earth,
when a banner(DB) is raised on the mountains,
you will see it,
and when a trumpet(DC) sounds,
you will hear it.
4 This is what the Lord says to me:
“I will remain quiet(DD) and will look on from my dwelling place,(DE)
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,(DF)
like a cloud of dew(DG) in the heat of harvest.”
5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off(DH) the shoots with pruning knives,
and cut down and take away the spreading branches.(DI)
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey(DJ)
and to the wild animals;(DK)
the birds will feed on them all summer,
the wild animals all winter.
7 At that time gifts(DL) will be brought to the Lord Almighty
from a people tall and smooth-skinned,(DM)
from a people feared(DN) far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers(DO)—
the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.(DP)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 16:5 Hebrew tent
- Isaiah 16:8 Probably the Dead Sea
- Isaiah 17:8 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
- Isaiah 18:1 Or of locusts
- Isaiah 18:1 That is, the upper Nile region
Isaiah 16-18
King James Version
Isaiah 16-18
King James Version
16 Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
3 Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.
4 Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5 And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.
7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.
8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
9 Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
10 And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.
12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.
13 This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.
14 But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.
17 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel.
7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
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 a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
18 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
4 For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
7 In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.