Isaiah 16
1 Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela through the desert, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
[The rulers of Moab will say to each other, ] “We must send some [lambs] from Sela [city] as a gift to the ruler of Judah [to persuade him to not allow his army to attack us any more]. We should send them through the desert to the king.
2 The Moabite women at the fords of the Arnon are like birds fluttering around when their nest is destroyed.
The women of Moab will be left alone at the (fords of/places where people can walk across) the Arnon [River]; they will be like [SIM] birds that have been pushed out of their nests.
3 Think about it and make a decision. Make your shadow as invisible at midday as during the night. Hide the refugees; don't betray them as they run away.
They will cry out, ‘Help us! Tell us what we should do! Protect us completely [MET], we who are running away [from our enemies], and do not (betray us/tell our enemies where we are).
4 Let my refugees stay among you, Moab. Hide them from our enemies until the destroyer is no more, the destruction is over, and the aggressive invaders have gone.
Allow [those of us] who are fleeing from Moab to stay with you; hide/protect us from [our enemies who want to] destroy us!’ [Some day] there will be no one to oppress us, and our enemies will stop destroying [our land].
5 Then a kingdom will be set up based on trustworthy love, and on its throne will sit a faithful king from the line of David. He will judge fairly, and will be passionately committed to doing what is right.
Then [Yahweh] will appoint someone to be king who will be [a descendant of King] David. As he rules [MTY], he will be merciful and truthful. He will always do what is fair/just and quickly do what is righteous.”
6 We know all about the pride of the Moabites, how terribly vain and conceited they are, completely arrogant! But their boasting is false.
We [people of Judah] have heard about [the people of] Moab; we have heard that they are very proud and conceited [DOU]; they are insolent, but what they proudly say about themselves is not true.
7 All the Moabites grieve for Moab. They all mourn the loss of the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, all of them destroyed.
[Some day all the people in] Moab will weep. They will all mourn, because [there will be no more] raisin cakes in Kir-Hareseth [city].
8 Heshbon's fields have dried up, as have Sibmah's grapevines. The rulers of the nations have trampled down the vines that once branched out to Jazer and east towards the desert, and west as far as the sea.
The [crops in] the fields at Heshbon [city] will wither, and the vineyards at Sibmah [town] will wither also. The armies of [other] nations will destroy Moab, which is [like] [MET] a beautiful grapevine whose branches spread [north] to Jazer [town] and [east] to the desert. Its branches spread very far [west], to the west side of the [Dead] Sea.
9 So I cry with Jazer for Sibmah's vines; I soak Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Nobody shouts in celebration over your summer fruit and your harvest any more.
So I will weep for Jazer and for the grapevines of Sibmah. I will shed tears for all of you. I will cry because people will no longer shout joyfully, like they usually do when they gather the fruit that ripens in the (summer/hot season) and the other crops that they harvest.
10 Joy and happiness are gone. Nobody celebrates in the harvest fields or the vineyards; nobody shouts happily. Nobody treads grapes in the winepresses. I have stopped their cheering.
People will no longer be glad at harvest time. No one will sing in the vineyards, no one will shout joyfully. No one will tread on grapes [to get grape juice for wine]; there will be nothing to shout about [joyfully].
11 Heartbroken I cry for Moab like sad music on a harp; deep inside I weep for Kir-hareseth.
I cry inwardly for Moab; my groaning is like [SIM] [a sad song played on] a harp. I am sad about Kir-Hareseth.
12 The Moabites go and wear themselves out worshiping at their high places. They go to their shrines to pray, but it does them no good.
[The people of] Moab will go and pray at their sacred shrines, but that will not help them. They will cry out to their gods in their temples, [but] none of them will be able to rescue the people.
13 This is the message that the Lord has already delivered about Moab.
Yahweh has already spoken those things about Moab.
14 But now the Lord speaks again, and says, In three years, just as a contract worker precisely counts years, Moab's glory will turn into something to be laughed at. Despite there being so many Moabites now, soon there will only be a few feeble people left.
But now he says that exactly three years from now, he will destroy all the things that [the people of] Moab have been proud of. Even though they have a huge number of people in Moab now, only a few people will remain alive, and they will be weak/helpless.
