Isaiah 15–16

Chapter 15

A Message about Moab

This message came to me concerning Moab:

In one night the town of Ar will be leveled,

and the city of Kir will be destroyed.

²Your people will go to their temple in Dibon to mourn.

They will go to their sacred shrines to weep.

They will wail for the fate of Nebo and Medeba,

shaving their heads in sorrow and cutting off their beards.

³They will wear burlap as they wander the streets.

From every home and public square will come the sound of wailing.

⁴The people of Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out;

their voices will be heard as far away as Jahaz!

The bravest warriors of Moab will cry out in utter terror.

They will be helpless with fear.

⁵My heart weeps for Moab.

Its people flee to Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah.

Weeping, they climb the road to Luhith.

Their cries of distress can be heard all along the road to Horonaim.

⁶Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up!

The grassy banks are scorched.

The tender plants are gone;

nothing green remains.

⁷The people grab their possessions

and carry them across the Ravine of Willows.

⁸A cry of distress echoes through the land of Moab

from one end to the other—

from Eglaim to Beer-elim.

⁹The stream near Dibon runs red with blood,

but I am still not finished with Dibon!

Lions will hunt down the survivors—

both those who try to escape

and those who remain behind.

Chapter 16

¹Send lambs from Sela as tribute

to the ruler of the land.

Send them through the desert

to the mountain of beautiful Zion.

²The women of Moab are left like homeless birds

at the shallow crossings of the Arnon River.

³“Help us,” they cry.

“Defend us against our enemies.

Protect us from their relentless attack.

Do not betray us now that we have escaped.

⁴Let 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,

⁵then God will establish one of David’s descendants as king.

He will rule with mercy and truth.

He will always do what is just

and be eager to do what is right.

⁶We have heard about proud Moab—

about its pride and arrogance and rage.

But all that boasting has disappeared.

⁷The entire land of Moab weeps.

Yes, everyone in Moab mourns

for the cakes of raisins from Kir-hareseth.

They are all gone now.

⁸The farms of Heshbon are abandoned;

the vineyards at Sibmah are deserted.

The rulers of the nations have broken down Moab—

that beautiful grapevine.

Its tendrils spread north as far as the town of Jazer

and trailed eastward into the wilderness.

Its shoots reached so far west

that they crossed over the Dead Sea.

⁹So now I weep for Jazer and the vineyards of Sibmah;

my tears will flow for Heshbon and Elealeh.

There are no more shouts of joy

over your summer fruits and harvest.

¹⁰Gone now is the gladness,

gone the joy of harvest.

There will be no singing in the vineyards,

no more happy shouts,

no treading of grapes in the winepresses.

I have ended all their harvest joys.

¹¹My heart’s cry for Moab is like a lament on a harp.

I am filled with anguish for Kir-hareseth.

¹²The people of Moab will worship at their pagan shrines,

but it will do them no good.

They will cry to the gods in their temples,

but no one will be able to save them.

¹³The Lord has already said these things about Moab in the past. ¹⁴But now the Lord says, “Within three years, counting each day, the glory of Moab will be ended. From its great population, only a feeble few will be left alive.”