Isaiah 16

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

The prophet instructs the Moabite refugees, compared to scattered birds at the fords of the Arnon, to send tribute lambs to Zion and seek shelter from their oppressors. Moab pleads for counsel, shade, and refuge, while a throne is projected to be established in David's tent with a faithful judge. However, because of Moab's great pride and empty boasting, lamentation is declared for the stricken people and the withered fields, vineyards, and orchards of Heshbon, Sibmah, Jazer, and Kir-hareseth. The prophet and others weep over the silenced harvest shouts and empty winepresses, noting that Moab's exhausting prayers at the high places and sanctuaries will be ineffective. Finally, the LORD affirms this previous message and declares that within three years, counted like the time of a hired worker, Moab's splendor and large population will be brought into contempt, leaving only a few feeble survivors.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹Send the tribute lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mount of Daughter Zion. ²Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon: ³“Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees. ⁴Let my fugitives stay with you; be a refuge for Moab from the destroyer.” When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ceased, and the oppressors have vanished from the land, ⁵in loving devotion a throne will be established in the tent of David. A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness will sit on it in faithfulness. ⁶We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty. ⁷Therefore let Moab wail; let them wail together for Moab. Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, you who are utterly stricken. ⁸For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the sea. ⁹So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest. ¹⁰Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards. No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses; I have put an end to the cheering. ¹¹Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres. ¹²When Moab appears on the high place, when he wearies himself and enters his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good. ¹³This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab. ¹⁴And now the LORD says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble.”

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.