Isaiah 16–18

16Send ye ^athe lamb to the ruler of the land

From ^||Sela to the wilderness,

Unto ^bthe mount of the daughter of Zion.

²For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird ^||cast out of ^dthe nest,

So the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of ^ddArnon.

^3†Take counsel, execute judgment;

^eMake thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday;

Hide ^fthe outcasts; ^gbewray not him that wandereth.

⁴Let mine ^foutcasts dwell with thee, Moab;

^hBe thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler:

For the ^†extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth,

^†The oppressors are consumed out of the land.

⁵And in mercy ⁱshall the throne be ^||established:

And he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David,

^kJudging, and seeking judgment, and ^lhasting righteousness.

^6mWe have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud:

Even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath:

But ⁿhis lies shall ^onot be so.

⁷Therefore shall Moab ^phowl for Moab, ^ppevery one shall howl:

For the foundations of ^pqKir-hareseth shall ye ^||rmourn; surely they are stricken.

⁸For ^sthe fields of Heshbon ^tlanguish, and ^uthe vine of ^vSibmah:

The lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof,

^wThey are come even unto ^xJazer, ^wthey wandered through the wilderness:

Her branches are ^||ystretched out, they are gone over ^uthe sea.

⁹Therefore I ^uwill bewail with the weeping of ^xJazer the vine of ^vSibmah:

I will water thee with my tears, ^sO Heshbon, and ^sElealeh:

For ^||zthe shouting for ^uthy summer fruits and for ^uthy harvest is fallen.

^10aAnd gladness is taken away, and joy out of ^bthe plentiful field;

And ^cin the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting:

The treaders shall tread out no ^awine in their ^dpresses;

I have ^emade their vintage ^zshouting to cease.

¹¹Wherefore ^fmy bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab,

And mine inward parts for ^qKir-haresh.

¹²And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on ^gthe high place,

That he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.

¹³This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab ^hsince that time.

¹⁴But now the Lord hath spoken, saying,

Within three years, ⁱas the years of an hireling,

And the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude;

And the remnant shall be ^kvery small and ^||feeble.

17^*The ^aburden of ^bDamascus.

Behold, Damascus is taken away ^cfrom being a city,

And it shall be a ruinous heap.

^2dThe cities of Aroer are forsaken:

They shall be for flocks,

Which ^eshall lie down, and ^efnone shall make them afraid.

^3gThe fortress also shall ^hcease from Ephraim,

And ^gthe kingdom from ^bDamascus, and the remnant of Syria:

They shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.

⁴And in that day it shall come to pass,

That ^gthe glory of Jacob shall be made thin,

And ⁱthe fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.

⁵And it shall be ^jas when the harvestman gathereth the corn,

And reapeth the ears with his arm;

And it shall be as he that gathereth ears in ^kthe valley of Rephaim.

^6lYet ^mngleaning grapes shall be left in it, ^mas the shaking of an olive tree,

^oTwo or three berries in the top of ^pthe uppermost bough,

^qFour or five in ^rthe outmost fruitful branches thereof,

Saith the Lord God of Israel.

⁷At that day shall a man look to ^shis Maker,

And his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

⁸And he shall not look to the altars, ^tthe work of his hands,

Neither shall respect that which his fingers have made,

Either ^uvthe groves, or the ^||vimages.

⁹In that day shall his strong cities be

As a forsaken ^wbough, and ^pan uppermost branch,

^xWhich they left because of the children of Israel:

And there shall be desolation.

¹⁰Because thou hast forgotten ^ythe God of thy salvation,

And hast not been mindful of ^zthe rock of thy strength,

Therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants,

And shalt set it with strange slips:

¹¹In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow,

And in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish:

But the harvest shall be ^||a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

¹²Woe to the ^||multitude of many people,

Which ^bmake a noise like ^athe noise of the seas;

And to ^athe rushing of nations,

That make a rushing like ^athe rushing of ^||cmighty waters!

^13aThe nations shall rush like ^athe rushing of many waters:

But God shall ^drebuke them, and they shall flee far off,

And shall be chased ^eas the chaff of the mountains before the wind,

And like ^||fa rolling thing before ^gthe whirlwind.

¹⁴And behold at eveningtide trouble;

And before the morning he is not.

^hThis is the portion of them that spoil us,

And the lot of them that rob us.

18^*aWoe to the land shadowing ^bwith wings,

Which is beyond the rivers of ^cEthiopia:

^2dThat sendeth ambassadors by ^ethe sea,

Even in vessels of ^fbulrushes upon the waters, saying,

Go, ye ^gswift messengers,

To ^ha nation ^||scattered and ^jpeeled,

^hTo a people terrible ^kfrom their beginning hitherto;

^||†hA nation meted out and trodden down,

^||hWhose land the rivers have spoiled!

³All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth,

See ye, when he ⁿlifteth up an ensign on the mountains;

And when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.

⁴For so the Lord said unto me,

I will take my rest, and I will ^||consider in ^omy dwelling place

Like a clear heat ^||upon ^pherbs,

And like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

⁵For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect,

And ^qthe sour grape is ripening in ^qthe flower,

He shall both cut off the sprigs with ^rpruning hooks,

And take away and cut down ^sthe branches.

^6tThey shall be left together unto ^uthe fowls of the mountains,

And to the beasts of the earth:

And ^uthe fowls shall summer upon them,

And all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

⁷In that time ^vshall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts

Of ^ha people ^||scattered and peeled,

And from ^ha people terrible from their beginning hitherto;

^hA nation meted out and trodden under foot,

^hWhose land the rivers have spoiled,

To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion.