Isaiah 16

Isaiah 15 Isaiah 17

Isaiah 16New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Prophecy of Moab’s Devastation

16 Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land,
From ^[a]Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
²Then, like ^[b]fleeing birds or scattered ^[c]nestlings,
The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.
³“^[d]Give us advice, make a decision;
^[e]Cast your shadow like night ^[f]at high noon;
Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.
⁴“Let the ^[g]outcasts of Moab stay with you;
Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.”
For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased,
Oppressors have completely disappeared from the land.
⁵A throne will even be established in lovingkindness,
And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David;
Moreover, he will seek justice
And be prompt in righteousness.

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;
Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury;
His idle boasts are ^[h]false.
⁷Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.
You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth
As those who are utterly stricken.
⁸For the fields of Heshbon have ^[i]withered, the vines of Sibmah as well;
The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters
Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts;
Its tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea.
⁹Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah;
I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh;
For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.
¹⁰Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;
In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting,
No treader treads out wine in the presses,
For I have made the shouting to cease.
¹¹Therefore my ^[j]heart intones like a harp for Moab
And my ^[k]inward feelings for Kir-hareseth.
¹²So it will come about when Moab presents himself,
When he wearies himself upon his high place
And comes to his sanctuary to pray,
That he will not prevail.

¹³This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab. ¹⁴But now the Lord speaks, saying, “Within three years, as ^[l]a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and ^[m]impotent.”