Isaiah 16

¹Send the lamb to the ruler of the land , from Sela , by way of the desert , to the mount of the daughter of Zion .

²Like fleeing birds , like a scattered nest , so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon .

³Give counsel ; grant justice ; make your shade like night at the height of noon ; shelter the outcasts ; do not reveal the fugitive ;

⁴let 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 ,

⁵then a throne will be established in steadfast love , and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness .

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab — how proud he is!— of his arrogance , his pride , and his insolence ; in his idle boasting he is not right .

⁷Therefore let Moab wail for Moab , let everyone wail . Mourn , utterly stricken , for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth .

⁸For the fields of Heshbon languish , and the vine of Sibmah ; the lords of the nations have struck down its branches , which reached to Jazer and strayed to the desert ; its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea .

⁹Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah ; I drench you with my tears , O Heshbon and Elealeh ; for over your summer fruit and your harvest the shout has ceased .

¹⁰And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field , and in the vineyards no songs are sung , no cheers are raised ; no treader treads out wine in the presses ; I have put an end to the shouting .

¹¹Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab , and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth .

¹²And when Moab presents himself , when he wearies himself on the high place , when he comes to his sanctuary to pray , he will not prevail .

¹³This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past .

¹⁴But now the Lord has spoken , saying , In three years , like the years of a hired worker , the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt , in spite of all his great multitude , and those who remain will be very few and feeble .