Isaiah 15–16

An Oracle concerning Moab

¹⁵An oracle concerning Moab.

Because Ar is laid waste in a night,

Moab is undone;

because Kir is laid waste in a night,

Moab is undone.^*

²Daughter Dibon^d has gone up

to the high places to weep;

over Nebo and over Medeba

Moab wails.

Every head is shaved;

every beard is shorn;^*

³in the streets they bind on sackcloth;

on the housetops and in the squares

everyone wails and melts in tears.^*

⁴Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;

their voices are heard as far as Jahaz;

therefore the loins of Moab quiver;^e

his soul trembles.

⁵My heart cries out for Moab;

his fugitives flee to Zoar,

to Eglath-shelishiyah.

For at the ascent of Luhith

they go up weeping;

on the road to Horonaim

they raise a cry of destruction;^*

⁶the waters of Nimrim

are a desolation;

the grass is withered; the new growth fails;

vegetation is no more.^*

⁷Therefore the abundance they have gained

and what they have laid up

they carry away

over the Wadi of the Willows.^*

⁸For a cry has gone

around the land of Moab;

the wailing reaches to Eglaim;

the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.

⁹For the waters of Dibon^f are full of blood,

yet I will bring upon Dibon^g even more—

a lion for those of Moab who escape,

for the remnant of the land.^*

¹⁶Send lambs

to the ruler of the land,

from Sela, by way of the desert,

to the mount of daughter Zion.^*

²Like fluttering birds,

like scattered nestlings,

so are the daughters of Moab

at the fords of the Arnon.^*

³“Give counsel;

grant justice;

make your shade like night

at the height of noon;

hide the outcasts;

do not betray the fugitive;^*

⁴let the outcasts of Moab

settle among you;

be a refuge to them

from the destroyer.”

When the oppressor is no more,

and destruction has ceased,

and marauders have vanished from the land,^*

⁵then a throne shall be established in steadfast love

in the tent of David,

and on it shall sit in faithfulness

a ruler who seeks justice

and is swift to do what is right.^*

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab

—how proud he is!—

of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;

his boasts are false.^*

⁷Therefore let Moab wail;

let everyone wail for Moab.

Mourn, utterly stricken,

for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.^*

⁸For the fields of Heshbon languish,

and the vines of Sibmah,

whose clusters once made drunk

the lords of the nations,

reached to Jazer

and strayed to the desert;

their shoots once spread abroad

and crossed over the sea.^*

⁹Therefore I weep as Jazer weeps

for the vines of Sibmah;

I drench you with my tears,

O Heshbon and Elealeh,

for the shout over your fruit harvest

and your grain harvest has ceased.^*

¹⁰Joy and gladness are taken away

from the fruitful field,

and in the vineyards no exultation is heard;

no shouts are raised;

no treader treads out wine in the presses;

the vintage shout is hushed.^h*

¹¹Therefore my heart moans like a harp for Moab

and my very soul for Kir-heres.^*

¹²When Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.^*

¹³This was the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past. ¹⁴But now the Lord says, “In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all its great multitude, and those who survive will be very few and feeble.”^*