Isaiah 16

16Send a ram^a to the ruler of the land,

from Sela across the desert to the mountain of daughter Zion.^b

²And this shall be:

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.

⁴Let 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,

⁵then 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.

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab—exceedingly proud—

of his arrogance, pride, and insolence; his boasting is not true.^d

⁷Therefore Moab wails;

all of it wails for Moab,

for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you moan, utterly devastated.^e

⁸For 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.

⁹Therefore 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.

¹⁰And 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.

¹¹Therefore my heart moans^h like a harp for Moab

and my inner parts for Kir-heres.

¹²And this shall happen:

when Moab appears, when it is weary upon the high place

and it comes to its sanctuary to pray, it will not prevail.

¹³This was the word that Yahweh spoke to Moab in the past.^{i 14}But now Yahweh speaks, saying, “In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will become contemptible, with all of the great multitude, and the remnant will be a few, small, not strong.