The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 16

 The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 16

1 Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

2 Otherwise, the daughters of Moab will be like a wandering bird flung from its nest at the fords of Arnon.

3 Take counsel, execute justice; set your shadow like night at midday; hide the outcasts, and do not uncover those who wander.

4 Let my outcasts dwell among you, O Moab; be their refuge from the face of the destroyer; for the violent man will cease; destruction will be destroyed, and the oppressors will be consumed from the earth.

5 For a throne will be established in lovingkindness, and one will sit on it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking justice, and making haste to do righteousness. 

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, even the most proud; his haughtiness, and his arrogance, and his wrath; his boasting is vain.

7 Therefore Moab will howl for Moab; everyone will howl; you will wail for the foundations of Kir-hareseth, for they are shaken.

8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vineyards of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have cut down its choicest plants; they are approaching Jazer; they wander in the wilderness; their branches are spread out, they have passed beyond the sea.

9 Therefore I will mourn for the vineyard of Sibmah with the weeping of Jazer; I will water you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh; because the joy of your summer fruits and your harvest has disappeared. 

10 The joy and gladness have fled from the fruitful field, and there is no singing in the vineyards, nor is there any joy; the treader will no longer tread the grapes in the winepresses. I have caused the joy to cease.

11 Therefore my heart sings for Moab like a harp, and my inward parts like Kir-heres.

12 And it shall come to pass, when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high places, and enters his sanctuary to pray, that he shall gain nothing.

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

14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, Within three years (like the years of hired servants), the glory of Moab will be diminished, with all its great multitude; and the remnant will be few, small, and powerless.