< Isaiah 16 >

1 Send the lambs for the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2 For it will be that as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon. 3 Give counsel. Execute justice. Make your shade like the night in the midst of the noonday. Hide the outcasts. Do not betray the fugitive. 4 Let the outcasts of Moab dwell with you; be a hiding place to them from the face of the destroyer. For the extortioner is at an end, destruction has ceased, oppressors have finished from the land. 5 A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness. 6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing. 7 Ah, let not Moab wail; let everyone wail for Moab. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth, utterly stricken. 8 For the fields of Heshbon languish with the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad. They passed over the sea. 9 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will saturate you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen. 10 Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing and there will be no jubilant shouting. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop. 11 Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres. 12 It will happen that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail. 13 This is the word that Jehovah spoke concerning Moab in time past. 14 But now Jehovah has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble."

< Isaiah 16 >