Isaiah 16
1 Send ye the lambs for the ruler of the land from the crags that are toward the wilderness, unto the mount 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 For it shall be that, as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be at the fords of Arnon.
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 'Give counsel, execute justice; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; betray not the fugitive.
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 mine outcasts dwell with thee; as for Moab, be thou a covert to him from the face of the spoiler.' For the extortion is at an end, spoiling ceaseth, they that trampled down are consumed out of the land;
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 And a throne is established through mercy, and there sitteth thereon in truth, in the tent of David, one that judgeth, and seeketh justice, and is ready in righteousness.
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 have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud; even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his arrogancy, his ill-founded boastings.
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 Therefore shall Moab wail for Moab, every one shall wail; for the sweet cakes of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn, sorely stricken.
[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 For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah, whose choice plants did overcome the lords of nations; they reached even unto Jazer, they wandered into the wilderness; her branches were spread abroad, they passed over 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 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh; for upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest the battle shout is fallen.
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 And gladness and joy are taken away out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting; no treader shall tread out wine in the presses; I have made the vintage shout to cease.
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 Wherefore my heart moaneth like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-heres.
I cry inwardly for Moab; my groaning is like [SIM] [a sad song played on] a harp. I am sad about Kir-Hareseth.
12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab hath wearied himself upon the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail
[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 word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in time past.
Yahweh has already spoken those things about Moab.
14 But now the LORD hath spoken, saying: 'Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall wax contemptible for all his great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and without strength.'
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.
