Isaiah 16

1 Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

Send rams to the ruler of the land from Selah in the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2 For it shall be, [that], as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, [so] the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.

As wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so the women of Moab are at the fords of the Arnon River.

3 Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.

“Give instruction, execute justice; provide some shade like night in the middle of the day; hide the fugitives; do not betray the fugitives.

4 Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

Let them live among you, the refugees from Moab; be a hiding place for them from the destroyer.” For the oppression will stop, and destruction will cease, those who trample will disappear from the land.

5 And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

A throne will be established in covenant faithfulness; and one from David's tent will faithfully sit there. He will judge as he seeks justice and does righteousness.

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; [he is] very proud: [even] of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: [but] his lies [shall] not [be] so.

We have heard of Moab's pride, his arrogance, his boasting, and his anger. But his boastings are empty words.

7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely [they are] stricken.

So Moab wails for Moab—they all wail! Mourn, you who are utterly destroyed, for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.

8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, [and] the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come [even] unto Jazer, they wandered [through] the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.

The fields of Heshbon have dried up as well as the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled the choice vines that reached to Jazer and spread into the desert. Its shoots spread abroad; they went over to the sea.

9 Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.

Indeed I will weep along with Jazer for the vineyard of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh. For on your fields of summer fruits and harvest I have ended the shouts of joy.

10 And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in [their] presses; I have made [their vintage] shouting to cease.

Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruit tree groves; and there is no singing, or shouts in the vineyards. No one treads out wine in the presses, for I have put an end to the shouts of the one who treads.

11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.

So my heart sighs like a harp for Moab, and my inward being for Kir Hareseth.

12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.

When Moab wears himself out on the high place and enters his temple to pray, his prayers will accomplish nothing.

13 This [is] the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.

This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab previously.

14 But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant [shall be] very small [and] feeble.

Again Yahweh speaks, “Within three years, the glory of Moab will disappear; in spite of his many people, the remnant will be very few and insignificant.”