Isaiah 16

1 Send ye the lamb due to the ruler of the land, From Sela towards the desert, —Unto the mount of the daughter of Zion;

And they will send ... to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

2 Yet shall it be that—Like wandering birds from a nest cast forth, Shall be the daughters of Moab, at the fords of Arnon.

For the daughters of Moab will be like wandering birds, like a place from which the young birds have gone in flight, at the ways across the Arnon.

3 Bring thou, in counsel, Execute thou judgment, Make as the night, thy shadow in the midst of high noon, —Hide thou the outcasts, The wanderer, do not thou reveal.

Give wise directions, make a decision; let your shade be as night in full day: keep safe those who are in flight; do not give up the wandering ones.

4 Let mine own outcasts, sojourn with thee, O Moab, become thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler, —For vanished is the oppressor, At an end is extortion, They who tread down have ceased out of the land.

Let those who have been forced out of Moab have a resting-place with you; be a cover to them from him who is making waste their land: till the cruel ones are cut off, and wasting has come to an end, and those who take pleasure in crushing the poor are gone from the land.

5 So shall be established, in lovingkindness, a throne, And one shall sit thereon, in truth, in the home of David, —Judging—and seeking justice and speeding righteousness.

Then a king's seat will be based on mercy, and one will be seated on it in the tent of David for ever; judging uprightly, and quick to do righteousness.

6 We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, Proud exceedingly! His haughtiness and his arrogance and his passion, Not true, are his boastings.

We have had word of the pride of Moab, how great it is; how he is lifted up in pride and passion: his high words about himself are false.

7 Therefore shall, Moab, howl for, Moab, All that belong to her, shall wail, —For the ruins of Kir-hareseth, shall they moan out Utterly stricken!

For this cause everyone in Moab will give cries of grief for Moab: crushed to the earth, they will be weeping for the men of Kir-hareseth.

8 For, the fields of Heshbon are withered—The vine of Sibmah, the owners of nations, have broken off ruddy branches, Unto Jazer, had they reached, They had spread abroad to the desert, —Her boughs, had stretched forth, had gone over to the sea.

For the fields of Heshbon are waste, the vine of Sibmah is dead; the lords of nations were overcome by the produce of her vines; her vine-plants went as far as Jazer, and came even to the waste land; her branches were stretched out to the sea.

9 For this cause, will I bewail, in the wailing of Jazer, The vine of Sibmah, I will drench thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh, —For, upon thy fruit-harvest, and upon thy grain-harvest, the battle-shout, hath fallen.

For this cause my sorrow for the vine of Sibmah will be like the weeping for Jazer: my eyes are dropping water on you, O Heshbon and Elealeh! For they are sounding the war-cry over your summer fruits and the getting in of your grain;

10 Now shall be withdrawn rejoicing and exultation out of the garden-land, And, in the vineyards, shall be neither singing nor shouting, —Wine in the winepress, the treader, shall not tread, The vintage-shout, have I made to cease.

And all joy is gone; no longer are they glad for the fertile field; and in the vine-gardens there are no songs or sounds of joy: the crushing of grapes has come to an end, and its glad cry has been stopped.

11 For this cause, mine inward parts—for Moab, like a lyre, shall make a plaintive sound, —Yea what is within me, for Kir-heres.

For this cause the cords of my heart are sounding for Moab, and I am full of sorrow for Kir-heres.

12 And it shall be—When it is seen that Moab hath laboured in vain on the high place, He shall enter into his holy place to pray, and shall not prevail,

And when Moab goes up to the high place, and makes prayer in the house of his god, it will have no effect.

13 This, is the word which Yahweh spake concerning Moab in, time past;

This is the word which the Lord said about Moab in the past.

14 But now, hath Yahweh spoken saying, In three years, —as the years of a hireling, shall the glory of Moab be diminished, with all the great multitude, —even a very small remnant, of no account.

But now the Lord has said, In three years, the years of a servant working for payment, the glory of Moab, all that great people, will be turned to shame, and the rest of Moab will be very small and without honour.