Isaiah 16

New King James Version

Moab Destroyed

16 Send ^(A)the lamb to the ruler of the land,
^(B)From ^[a]Sela to the wilderness,
To the mount of the daughter of Zion.
²For it shall be as a ^(C)wandering bird thrown out of the nest;
So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the ^(D)Arnon.

³“Take counsel, execute judgment;
Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day;
Hide the outcasts,
Do not betray him who escapes.
⁴Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab;
Be a shelter to them from the face of the ^[b]spoiler.
For the extortioner is at an end,
Devastation ceases,
The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
⁵In mercy ^(E)the throne will be established;
And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David,
^(F)Judging and seeking justice and hastening ^(G)righteousness.”

⁶We have heard of the ^(H)pride of Moab—
He is very proud—
Of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath;
^(I)But his ^[c]lies shall not be so.
⁷Therefore Moab shall ^(J)wail for Moab;
Everyone shall wail.
For the foundations ^(K)of Kir Hareseth you shall mourn;
Surely they are stricken.

⁸For ^(L)the fields of Heshbon languish,
And ^(M)the vine of Sibmah;
The lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants,
Which have reached to Jazer
And wandered through the wilderness.
Her branches are stretched out,
They are gone over the ^(N)sea.
⁹Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah,
With the weeping of Jazer;
I will drench you with my tears,
^(O)O Heshbon and Elealeh;
For ^[d]battle cries have fallen
Over your summer fruits and your harvest.

¹⁰^(P)Gladness is taken away,
And joy from the plentiful field;
In the vineyards there will be no singing,
Nor will there be shouting;
No treaders will tread out wine in the presses;
I have made their shouting cease.
¹¹Therefore ^(Q)my ^[e]heart shall resound like a harp for Moab,
And my inner being for ^[f]Kir Heres.

¹²And it shall come to pass,
When it is seen that Moab is weary on ^(R)the high place,
That he will come to his sanctuary to pray;
But he will not prevail.

¹³This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning Moab since that time. ¹⁴But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “Within three years, ^(S)as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble.”