Isaiah 15–16

A Message About Moab

15Here is a message the Lord gave me about Moab.

The city of Ar in Moab is destroyed.

It happened in a single night.

Kir in Moab is also destroyed.

It happened in a single night.

²The people of Dibon go up to their temple to worship.

They go to their high places to sob.

The people of Moab cry over the cities of Nebo and Medeba.

All of their heads are shaved.

All of their beards have been cut off.

³In the streets they wear black clothes.

On their roofs and in the market places

all of them are crying.

They fall down flat with their faces toward the ground.

And they sob.

⁴The people of Heshbon and Elealeh cry out.

Their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.

So the fighting men of Moab cry out.

Their hearts are weak.

⁵My heart cries out over Moab.

Some who run away get as far as Zoar.

Others run all the way to Eglath Shelishiyah.

Others go up the road to Luhith.

They are sobbing as they go.

Still others travel the road to Horonaim.

They sing a song of sadness because their town is being destroyed.

⁶The waters at Nimrim are dried up.

And so is the grass.

The plants have died.

Nothing green is left.

⁷The people are trying to escape

through the Valley of the Poplar Trees.

They are carrying with them the wealth

they have collected and stored up.

⁸Their loud cries echo along the border of Moab.

They reach as far as Eglaim.

Their songs of sadness reach all the way to Beer Elim.

⁹The waters of the city of Dimon are full of blood.

But the Lord will bring even more trouble on Dimon.

He will bring lions against those who run away from Moab.

They will also attack those who remain in the land.

16People of Moab, send lambs as a gift

to the ruler of Judah.

Send them from Sela.

Send them across the desert.

Send them to Mount Zion in the city of Jerusalem.

²The women of Moab are at the places

where people go across the Arnon River.

They are like birds that flap their wings

when they are pushed from their nest.

³The Moabites say to the rulers of Judah,

“Give us advice. Make a decision.

Cover us with your shadow.

Make it like night even at noon.

Hide those of us who are running away.

Don’t turn them over to their enemies.

⁴Let those who have run away from Moab stay with you.

Keep them safe from those who are trying to destroy them.”

Those who crush others will be destroyed.

The killing will stop.

The attackers will disappear from the earth.

⁵A man from the royal house of David will sit on Judah’s throne.

He will rule with faithful love.

When he judges he will do what is fair.

He will be quick to do what is right.

⁶We have heard all about Moab’s pride.

We have heard how very proud they are.

They think they are so much better than others.

They brag about themselves.

But all of their bragging is nothing but empty words.

⁷So the people of Moab cry out.

All of them cry over their country.

Sing a song of sadness.

Sob over the men of Kir Hareseth.

⁸The vineyards of Heshbon dry up.

So do the vines of Sibmah.

The rulers of the nations

have walked all over its finest vines.

Those vines once reached as far as Jazer.

They spread out toward the desert.

Their new growth went

all the way to the Dead Sea.

⁹Jazer sobs over the vines of Sibmah.

And so do I.

Heshbon and Elealeh,

I soak you with my tears!

There isn’t any ripe fruit for people to shout about.

There isn’t any harvest to make them happy.

¹⁰Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards.

No one sings or shouts in the vineyards.

No one stomps on grapes at the winepresses.

That’s because the Lord has put an end to the shouting.

¹¹My heart sobs over Moab like a song of sadness played on a harp.

Deep down inside me I sob over Kir Hareseth.

¹²Moab’s people go to their high place to pray.

But all they do is wear themselves out.

Their god Chemosh can’t help them at all.

¹³That’s the message the Lord has already spoken about Moab. ¹⁴But now he says, “In exactly three years, people will look down on Moab’s glory. Now Moab has many people. But by that time only a few of them will be left alive. And even they will be weak.”