5 It is unclear who is being addressed in this verse. Perhaps the prophet, playing the role of a panic stricken Moabite refugee, requests the leaders of Judah (the imperatives are plural) to take pity on the fugitives.
6 Heb “Make your shade like night in the midst of noonday.” “Shade” here symbolizes shelter, while the heat of noonday represents the intense suffering of the Moabites. By comparing the desired shade to night, the speaker visualizes a huge dark shadow cast by a large tree that would provide relief from the sun’s heat.
7 Heb “disclose, uncover.”
8 That is, “live as resident foreigners.”
9 Heb “Be a hiding place for them.”
10 The present translation understands כִּי (ki) as asseverative, but one could take it as explanatory (“for,” , ) or temporal (“when,” , ). In the latter case, v. 4b would be logically connected to v. 5.
11 A perfect verbal form is used here and in the next two lines for rhetorical effect; the demise of the oppressor(s) is described as if it had already occurred.
12 The Hebrew text has, “they will be finished, the one who tramples, from the earth.” The plural verb form תַּמּוּ, (tammu, “disappear”) could be emended to agree with the singular subject רֹמֵס (romes, “the one who tramples”) or the participle can be emended to a plural (רֹמֵסִם, romesim) to agree with the verb. The translation assumes the latter. Haplography of mem (ם) seems likely; note that the word after רֹמֵס begins with a mem.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“Give counsel;

grant justice;

make your shade like night

at the height of noon;

shelter the outcasts;

do not reveal the fugitive;

let the outcasts of Moab

sojourn among you;

be a shelter to them

from the destroyer.

When the oppressor is no more,

and destruction has ceased,

and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“Make up your mind,” Moab says.

“Render a decision.

Make your shadow like night—

at high noon.

Hide the fugitives,

do not betray the refugees.

Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;

be their shelter from the destroyer.”

The oppressor will come to an end,

and destruction will cease;

the aggressor will vanish from the land.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Give us counsel and make a decision.

Shelter us at noonday

with shade that is as dark as night.

Hide the refugees;

do not betray the one who flees.

Let my refugees stay with you;

be a refuge for Moab from the aggressor.

When the oppressor has gone,

destruction has ended,

and marauders have vanished from the land,

NLTNew Living Translation

“Help us,” they cry.

“Defend us against our enemies.

Protect us from their relentless attack.

Do not betray us now that we have escaped.

Let our refugees stay among you.

Hide them from our enemies until the terror is past.”

When oppression and destruction have ended

and enemy raiders have disappeared,

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

“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.

Let 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 disappeared from the land,

KJV 1900King James Version

Take counsel, execute judgment;

Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday;

Hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.

Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab;

Be 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.

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