Isaiah 16–18

16Send lambs to the ruler of the land,^l

from Sela in the desert^m

to the mountain of Daughter Zion.

²Like a bird fleeing,

forced from the nest,

the daughters of Moab

will be at the fords of the Arnon.

³Give us counsel and make a decision.

Shelter us at noonday

with shade that is as dark as night.

Hide the refugees;ⁿ

do not betray the one who flees.

⁴Let my refugees stay with you;

be a refuge for Moab^B from the aggressor.

When the oppressor has gone,

destruction has ended,

and marauders have vanished from the land,

⁵a throne will be established in love,^o

and one will sit on it faithfully^C

in the tent of David,

judging and pursuing what is right,

quick to execute justice.

⁶We have heard of Moab’s pride^p—

how very proud he is—

his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,

and his empty boasting.

⁷Therefore let Moab wail;

let every one of them wail for Moab.

You who are completely devastated, mourn

for the raisin cakes^q of Kir-hareseth.^r

⁸For Heshbon’s terraced vineyards

and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered.

The rulers of the nations

have trampled its choice vines

that reached as far as Jazer^s

and spread to the desert.

Their shoots spread out

and reached the sea.^t

⁹So I join with Jazer

to weep for the vines of Sibmah;

I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears.

Triumphant shouts have fallen silent^A

over your summer fruit and your harvest.

¹⁰Joy and rejoicing^a have been removed from the orchard;

no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards.^b

No one tramples grapes^B in the winepresses.

I have put an end to the shouting.

¹¹Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab,^c

as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.

¹²When Moab appears

and tires himself out on the high place^d

and comes to his sanctuary to pray,

it will do him no good.^e

¹³This is the message that the Lord previously announced about Moab. ¹⁴And now the Lord says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts years,^f Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak.”

A PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST DAMASCUS

17A pronouncement^g concerning Damascus:^h

Look, Damascus is no longer a city.

It has become a ruined heap.

²The cities of Aroer are abandoned;

they will be places for flocks.

They will lie down without fear.

³The fortress disappears from Ephraim,ⁱ

and a kingdom from Damascus.

The remnant of Aram will be

like the splendor of the Israelites.

This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.

JUDGMENT AGAINST ISRAEL

⁴On that day

the splendor of Jacob will fade,

and his healthy body^C will become emaciated.^j

⁵It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain—

his arm harvesting the heads of grain—

and as if one had gleaned heads of grain

in Rephaim Valley.^k

⁶Only gleanings will be left in Israel,^l

as if an olive tree had been beaten—

two or three olives at the very top of the tree,

four or five on its fruitful branches.

This is the declaration of the Lord,

the God of Israel.

⁷On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.^{m 8}They will not look to the altarsⁿ they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and shrines^Ao they made with their fingers.

⁹On that day their strong cities will be

like the abandoned woods and mountaintops

that were abandoned because of the Israelites;

there will be desolation.

¹⁰For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,

and you have failed to remember

the rock of your strength;^p

therefore you will plant beautiful plants

and set out cuttings from exotic vines.

¹¹On the day that you plant,

you will help them to grow,

and in the morning

you will help your seed to sprout,

but the harvest will vanish

on the day of disease and incurable pain.

JUDGMENT AGAINST THE NATIONS

¹²Ah! The roar of many peoples—

they roar like the roaring of the seas.

The raging of the nations—

they rage like the rumble of rushing water.^q

¹³The nations rage like the rumble of a huge torrent.^r

He rebukes them, and they flee far away,^s

driven before the wind like chaff on the hills^t

and like tumbleweeds before a gale.

¹⁴In the evening—sudden terror!

Before morning—it is gone!

This is the fate of those who plunder us

and the lot of those who ravage us.

THE LORD’S MESSAGE TO CUSH

18Woe to the land of buzzing insect wings^B

beyond the rivers of Cush,^a

²which sends envoys by sea,

in reed vessels over the water.

Go, swift messengers,

to a nation tall and smooth-skinned,

to a people feared far and near,

a powerful nation with a strange language,^A

whose land is divided by rivers.

³All you inhabitants of the world

and you who live on the earth,

when a banner is raised on the mountains, look!

When a trumpet sounds, listen!

⁴For the Lord said to me:

I will quietly look out from my place,

like shimmering heat in sunshine,

like a rain cloud in harvest heat.

⁵For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over

and the blossom becomes a ripening grape,

he will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife,

and tear away and remove the branches.

⁶They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills

and for the wild animals of the land.

The birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,

and all the wild animals the winter.

⁷At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord of Armies from^B a people tall and smooth-skinned,^b a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers—to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of Armies.