Isaiah 16-17

English Standard Version

³ “Give counsel;
    grant justice;
^(D)make your shade like night
    at the height of noon;
shelter the outcasts;
    do not reveal the fugitive;
⁴ let ^(E)the outcasts of Moab
    sojourn among you;
be a shelter to them^[a]
    from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
    and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,
^5 (F)then a throne will be established in steadfast love,
    and on it will sit in faithfulness
    in the tent of David
one who judges and seeks justice
    and is swift to do righteousness.”

^6 (G)We have heard of the pride of Moab—
    how proud he is!—
^(H)of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
    in his idle boasting he is not right.
⁷ Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,
    ^(I)let everyone wail.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
    for the ^(J)raisin cakes of ^(K)Kir-hareseth.

⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish,
    and ^(L)the vine of Sibmah;
the lords of the nations
    have struck down its branches,
which reached to Jazer
    and strayed to the desert;
its shoots spread abroad
    and passed over the sea.
⁹ Therefore ^(M)I weep with ^(N)the weeping of Jazer
    for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
    O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for over ^(O)your summer fruit and your harvest
    the shout has ceased.
^10 (P)And joy and gladness are taken away from ^(Q)the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no ^(R)songs are sung,
    no cheers are raised;
no ^(S)treader treads out wine ^(T)in the presses;
    I have put an end to the shouting.
¹¹ Therefore ^(U)my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,
    and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
    and will become a heap of ruins.
² The cities of ^(AC)Aroer are deserted;
    they will be for flocks,
    which will lie down, and ^(AD)none will make them afraid.
³ The fortress will disappear from ^(AE)Ephraim,
    and the kingdom from ^(AF)Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
    like ^(AG)the glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts.

⁴ And in that day ^(AH)the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
    and ^(AI)the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
⁵ And it shall be ^(AJ)as when the reaper gathers standing grain
    and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
    in ^(AK)the Valley of Rephaim.
^6 (AL)Gleanings will be left in it,
    as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
    in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
    on the branches of a fruit tree,
declares the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁰ For ^(AQ)you have forgotten the God of your salvation
    and have not remembered the ^(AR)Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
    and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
¹¹ though you make them grow^[b] on the day that you plant them,
    and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away^[c]
    in a day of grief and incurable pain.

¹² Ah, ^(AS)the thunder of many peoples;
    they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
    they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
^13 (AT)The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
    ^(AU)but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased ^(AV)like chaff on the mountains before the wind
    and ^(AW)whirling dust before the storm.
^14 (AX)At evening time, behold, terror!
    Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    and the lot of those who plunder us.