Isaiah 15–16

A Prophecy Against Moab

16:6–12pp—Jer 48:29–36

15A prophecy^y against Moab:^z

Ar^a in Moab is ruined,^b

destroyed in a night!

Kir^c in Moab is ruined,

destroyed in a night!

²Dibon^d goes up to its temple,

to its high places^e to weep;

Moab wails^f over Nebo^g and Medeba.

Every head is shaved^h

and every beard cut off.ⁱ

³In the streets they wear sackcloth;^j

on the roofs^k and in the public squares^l

they all wail,^m

prostrate with weeping.ⁿ

⁴Heshbon^o and Elealeh^p cry out,

their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.^q

Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,

and their hearts are faint.

⁵My heart cries out^r over Moab;^s

her fugitives^t flee as far as Zoar,^u

as far as Eglath Shelishiyah.

They go up the hill to Luhith,

weeping as they go;

on the road to Horonaim^v

they lament their destruction.^w

⁶The waters of Nimrim are dried up^x

and the grass is withered;^y

the vegetation is gone^z

and nothing green is left.^a

⁷So the wealth they have acquired^b and stored up

they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.

⁸Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab;

their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,

their lamentation as far as Beer^c Elim.

⁹The waters of Dimon^a are full of blood,

but I will bring still more upon Dimon^b—

a lion^d upon the fugitives of Moab^e

and upon those who remain in the land.

16Send lambs^f as tribute^g

to the ruler of the land,

from Sela,^h across the desert,

to the mount of Daughter Zion.ⁱ

²Like fluttering birds

pushed from the nest,^j

so are the women of Moab^k

at the fords^l of the Arnon.^m

³“Make up your mind,” Moab says.

“Render a decision.

Make your shadow like night—

at high noon.

Hide the fugitives,ⁿ

do not betray the refugees.

⁴Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;

be their shelter^o from the destroyer.”

The oppressor^p will come to an end,

and destruction will cease;^q

the aggressor will vanish from the land.

⁵In love a throne^r will be established;^s

in faithfulness a man will sit on it—

one from the house^a of David^t—

one who in judging seeks justice^u

and speeds the cause of righteousness.

⁶We have heard of Moab’s^v pride^w—

how great is her arrogance!—

of her conceit, her pride and her insolence;

but her boasts are empty.

⁷Therefore the Moabites wail,^x

they wail together for Moab.

Lament and grieve

for the raisin cakes^y of Kir Hareseth.^z

⁸The fields of Heshbon^a wither,^b

the vines of Sibmah^c also.

The rulers of the nations

have trampled down the choicest vines,^d

which once reached Jazer^e

and spread toward the desert.

Their shoots spread out^f

and went as far as the sea.^bg

⁹So I weep,^h as Jazer weeps,

for the vines of Sibmah.

Heshbon and Elealeh,ⁱ

I drench you with tears!^j

The shouts of joy^k over your ripened fruit

and over your harvests^l have been stilled.

¹⁰Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards;^m

no one sings or shoutsⁿ in the vineyards;

no one treads^o out wine at the presses,^p

for I have put an end to the shouting.

¹¹My heart laments for Moab^q like a harp,^r

my inmost being^s for Kir Hareseth.

¹²When Moab appears at her high place,^t

she only wears herself out;

when she goes to her shrine^u to pray,

it is to no avail.^v

¹³This is the word the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab. ¹⁴But now the Lord says: “Within three years,^w as a servant bound by contract^x would count them,^y Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised,^z and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”^a