Isaiah 16

1Send a lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela through the wilderness to the mount of Daughter Zion.

2Like fluttering birds, like a nest scattered, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.

3Give counsel; make a decision. Make your shade like night at high noon. Hide the outcasts; do not betray the fugitive.

4Let my outcasts from Moab stay with you; be a refuge for them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and the one who tramples has vanished from the land,

5then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness, in the tent of David, one who judges and seeks justice and is quick to do what is right.

6We have heard of Moab’s pride—how very proud he is—of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; his boasting is empty.

7Therefore Moab wails for Moab; they all wail. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.

8For the fields of Heshbon wither, and the vines of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have struck down its choice branches, which reached as far as Jazer and strayed into the wilderness; its shoots spread out and crossed over the sea.

9So I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for the shout of joy over your summer fruit and your harvest has fallen silent.

10Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchard; in the vineyards no one sings or shouts; no one treads out wine in the presses. I have put an end to the shouting.

11Therefore my heart moans like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost being for Kir-heres.

12When Moab appears and wears himself out on the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not succeed.

13This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab in the past.

14But now Yahweh has spoken: Within three years, as a hired worker counts years, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, along with all its great multitude, and those who are left will be very few and feeble.