Isaiah 16

1 Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela [in] the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

2 And it will come to pass [that], like a fluttering bird [or] a nestling cast out, [so] shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.

3 “Bring in counsel; make judgment; set like the night your shadow in the middle of noontime. Hide those driven away, do not uncover the one fleeing.

4 Let sojourn among you the outcasts of Moab; be a shelter for them from the face of the destroyer.” For the extortioner comes to an end and destruction ceases; the tramplers of the land are finished off.

5 And in loving devotion a throne will be established, and one will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David—one judging and seeking justice, and hastening righteousness.

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab—exceeding pride—of his arrogance and his pride and his wrath; not so [are] his lies.

7 Therefore Moab will wail; let everyone wail for Moab; for the raisin-cakes of Kir-Hareseth you⁺ will mourn, utterly stricken.

8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, [and] the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have struck down its choicest vines, [which] had reached as far as Jazer, and wandered [to] the desert—her branches stretched out [and] passed over the sea.

9 Upon thus I weep with the weeping of Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah, I will drench you [with] my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh. For over your summer fruit—over your summer fruit the shouting have fallen silent.

10 And gladness and rejoicing are gathered up from the field of planting, and in the vineyards there is no singing, and no shouting, [and] the wine in the presses, the treader does not tread; their shouting I have made cease.

11 Upon thus my bowels do moan for Moab like a harp, and my inmost being for Kir-heres.

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

13 This [is] the word that YHWH has spoken to Moab from that time;

14 and YHWH has spoken, saying, “In three years, according to the years of a hireling, then the glory of Moab will be turned to dishonor, with all the great multitude; and the remnant [is] little—small, not mighty.”