Isaiah, 16

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

1. Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2. for soon, like a fluttered bird, like nestlings cast out, will be the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.

2. For it shall be, [that], as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, [so] the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.

3. Hold a council, make a decision. At noon spread your shadow as if it were night. Hide those who have been driven out, do not betray the fugitive,

3. Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.

4. let those who have been driven out of Moab come and live with you; be their refuge in the face of the devastator. Once the oppression is past, and the devastation has stopped and those now trampling on the country have gone away,

4. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

5. the throne will be made secure in faithful love and on it will sit in constancy within the tent of David, a judge seeking fair judgement and pursuing uprightness.

5. And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

6. We have heard about Moab's pride, about how very proud it is, about its arrogance, its pride, its rage, its bravado, which will come to nothing!

6. We have heard of the pride of Moab; [he is] very proud: [even] of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: [but] his lies [shall] not [be] so.

7. And so Moab is wailing for Moab, wailing, every one of them. For the raisin cakes of Kir-Hareseth you mourn, stricken with grief.

7. Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; surely [they are] stricken.

8. For Heshbon's vineyards are withering, the vine of Sibmah whose red grapes used to overcome the overlords of the nations. It used to reach to Jazer, had wound its way into the desert, its shoots grew so numerous they spread across the sea.

8. For the fields of Heshbon languish, [and] the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come [even] unto Jazer, they wandered [through] the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.

9. And so I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vine of Sibmah. I water you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh. For over your harvest and vintage the cheering has died away;

9. Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.

10. joy and gladness have vanished from the orchards. No more revelry in the vineyards, no more happy shouting; no more the treader treads wine in the presses, the cheering has ceased.

10. And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in [their] presses; I have made [their vintage] shouting to cease.

11. That is why my whole being quivers like harp strings for Moab, my very heart, for Kir-Heres.

11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.

12. Moab will be seen, wearing itself out on the high places and going to its temple to pray, but it will accomplish nothing.

12. And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.

13. Such was the word which Yahweh spoke about Moab in the past.

13. This [is] the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.

14. And now Yahweh has spoken in these terms, 'Within three years, as a hired worker reckons them, the glory of Moab will be humbled, despite its teeming population. It will be reduced to nothing, an insignificant remnant.'

14. But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant [shall be] very small [and] feeble.