Isaiah 16

Lexham English Bible

16 Send a ram^[a] to the ruler of the land,
    from Sela across the desert to the mountain of daughter Zion.^[b]

like a bird fleeing from a thrust away nest
    shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon.
³ “Bring counsel,
    make a decision;
make your shade like the night
    in the middle of noonday.
Hide the outcasts;
    you must not betray the fugitive.
⁴ Let my outcasts of Moab dwell as aliens among you;
    be a hiding place for them from the presence of the destroyer.”
When the oppressor is no more, destruction has stopped,
    the one who tramples has^[c] disappeared from the land,
⁵ then a throne shall be established in steadfast love,
    and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David,
judging and seeking justice
    and zealous for righteousness.
⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab—exceedingly proud—
    of his arrogance, pride, and insolence; his boasting is not true.^[d]
7 Therefore Moab wails;
    all of it wails for Moab,
    for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you moan, utterly devastated.^[e]
8 For Heshbon withers the fields, the vine of Sibmah;
    rulers of nations have broken down her tendrils,
they reached up to Jazer,
    they wandered to the desert;
her shoots spread abroad,
    they crossed over the sea.
⁹ Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah.
    I drench you with my tears,^[f] Heshbon and Elealeh,
        for a jubilant shout has fallen over your summer fruit and harvest.
¹⁰ And joy and gladness are^[g] taken away from the fruitful land,
    and in the vineyards no one exults,
no one shouts for joy;
    no treader treads wine in the presses;
    I have put to an end to the jubilant shout.
¹¹ Therefore my heart moans^[h] like a harp for Moab
    and my inner parts for Kir-heres.

when Moab appears, when it is weary upon the high place
    and it comes to its sanctuary to pray, it will not prevail.