Isaiah 15:1–16:14
1 The 1oracle concerning aMoab.
Surely in a night bAr of Moab is devastated and ruined;
Surely in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.
2 They have gone up to the 1temple and to aDibon, even to the high places to weep.
Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba;
Everyone’s head is bbald and every beard is cut off.
3 In their streets they have girded themselves with asackcloth;
bOn their housetops and in their squares
Everyone is wailing, 1cdissolved in tears.
4 aHeshbon and Elealeh also cry out,
Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz;
Therefore the 1armed men of Moab cry aloud;
His soul trembles within him.
5 My heart cries out for Moab;
His fugitives are as far as aZoar and Eglath-shelishiyah,
For they go up the bascent of Luhith weeping;
Surely on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress cover their ruin.
6 For the awaters of Nimrim are 1desolate.
Surely the grass is withered, the tender grass 2died out,
There is bno green thing.
7 Therefore the aabundance which they have acquired and stored up
They carry off over the brook of 1Arabim.
8 For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab,
Its wail goes as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer-elim.
9 For the waters of Dimon are full of 1blood;
Surely I will bring added woes upon Dimon,
A alion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.
Prophecy of Moab’s Devastation
1 aSend the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land,
From 1bSela by way of the wilderness to the cmountain of the daughter of Zion.
2 Then, like 1afleeing birds or scattered 2nestlings,
The daughters of bMoab will be at the fords of the cArnon.
3 “1Give us advice, make a decision;
2Cast your ashadow like night 3at high noon;
bHide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.
4 “Let the 1outcasts of Moab stay with you;
Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.”
For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased,
aOppressors have completely disappeared from the land.
5 A athrone will even be established in lovingkindness,
And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of bDavid;
Moreover, he will seek justice
And be prompt in righteousness.
6 aWe have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;
Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury;
7 Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.
You will moan for the araisin cakes of bKir-hareseth
As those who are utterly stricken.
8 For the fields of aHeshbon have 1withered, the vines of bSibmah as well;
The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters
Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts;
cIts tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea.
9 Therefore I will aweep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah;
I will drench you with my tears, O bHeshbon and Elealeh;
For the shouting over your csummer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.
10 aGladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;
In the bvineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting,
No ctreader treads out wine in the presses,
For I have made the shouting to cease.
11 Therefore my 1aheart intones like a harp for Moab
And my 2inward feelings for Kir-hareseth.
12 So it will come about when Moab apresents himself,
When he bwearies himself upon his chigh place
And comes to his sanctuary to pray,
That he will not prevail.
13 This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab.
14 But now the Lord speaks, saying, “Within three years, as 1aa hired man would count them, the glory of bMoab will be degraded along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and 2impotent.”