Isaiah 15-16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
An Oracle concerning Moab
15 An oracle concerning Moab.
Because Ar is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone;
because Kir is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone.(A)
2 Daughter Dibon[a] has gone up
to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Medeba
Moab wails.
Every head is shaved;
every beard is shorn;(B)
3 in the streets they bind on sackcloth;
on the housetops and in the squares
everyone wails and melts in tears.(C)
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the loins of Moab quiver;[b]
his soul trembles.
5 My heart cries out for Moab;
his fugitives flee to Zoar,
to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
on the road to Horonaim
they raise a cry of destruction;(D)
6 the waters of Nimrim
are a desolation;
the grass is withered; the new growth fails;
vegetation is no more.(E)
7 Therefore the abundance they have gained
and what they have laid up
they carry away
over the Wadi of the Willows.(F)
8 For a cry has gone
around the land of Moab;
the wailing reaches to Eglaim;
the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
9 For the waters of Dibon[c] are full of blood,
yet I will bring upon Dibon[d] even more—
a lion for those of Moab who escape,
for the remnant of the land.(G)
16 Send lambs
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of daughter Zion.(H)
2 Like fluttering birds,
like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.(I)
3 “Give counsel;
grant justice;
make your shade like night
at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts;
do not betray the fugitive;(J)
4 let the outcasts of Moab
settle among you;
be a refuge to them
from the destroyer.”
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and marauders have vanished from the land,(K)
5 then a throne shall be established in steadfast love
in the tent of David,
and on it shall sit in faithfulness
a ruler who seeks justice
and is swift to do what is right.(L)
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab
—how proud he is!—
of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
his boasts are false.(M)
7 Therefore let Moab wail;
let everyone wail for Moab.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.(N)
8 For the fields of Heshbon languish,
and the vines of Sibmah,
whose clusters once made drunk
the lords of the nations,
reached to Jazer
and strayed to the desert;
their shoots once spread abroad
and crossed over the sea.(O)
9 Therefore I weep as Jazer weeps
for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and Elealeh,
for the shout over your fruit harvest
and your grain harvest has ceased.(P)
10 Joy and gladness are taken away
from the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no exultation is heard;
no shouts are raised;
no treader treads out wine in the presses;
the vintage shout is hushed.[e](Q)
11 Therefore my heart moans like a harp for Moab
and my very soul for Kir-heres.(R)
12 When Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.(S)
13 This was the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past. 14 But now the Lord says, “In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all its great multitude, and those who survive will be very few and feeble.”(T)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.