Isaiah 16)
1 Send you all the tribute lamb of the ruler of the land (i.e. Judah, as Mesha king of Moab had done [2 Kings 3:4]) from Sela (now Petra, so called by the Romans, in Mount Seir, near Mount Hor [2 Kings 14:7]) to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird out of a forsaken nest, so the daughters of Moab shall become at the fords of Arnon.
3 Bring advice (some codices read "Bring you counsel"), perform an arbitrator's duty (some codices read" execute you"); make your shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray (= reveal) not him that wanders.
4 Let My outcasts (some codices read "Let the outcasts") sojourn with you, Moab (cp. 1 Sam. 22;3,4); be you a covert to them from the face of the spoiler (i.e. Sennacherib):
for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceases, the treaders down are consumed out of the land.
5 And in loving-kindness shall the throne be established (or grace. The burden goes beyond the immediate future to the ultimate future): and He shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David (see 10:20), judging, and seeking judgment, and prompt in equity (cp. 46:13).
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab (cp. 6:8. Gen. 1:26); he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his resources do not correspond.
7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth (some codices read "Kir-harasheth") shall you all mourn; surely they are worn away.
8 For [as to] the fields of Heshbon he [Moab] has enfeebled (cp. Deut. 32:32. 2 Kings 23:4. Jer. 31:40), [as to] the vine of Sibmah (probably Sumia, on the East of Jordan, 2 1/2 miles west of Heshbon [Josh. 13:19. Jer. 48:32]) the lords of the nations (probably plural of majesty for "great lord of the nations", a title claimed by the kings of Assyria) have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even to Jazer (probably Beit Zer'ah, on the east of Jordan [Num. 32:1. Josh. 13:25; 21:39. 2 Sam. 24:5. 1 Chron. 6:81; 26:31. Jer. 48:32), they wandered through (or, strayed into) the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
9 Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will make you drunk with My tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and your harvest a war-cry has fallen.
10 And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their wine-vat; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
11 Wherefore My bowels shall make a plaintive sound like an harp for Moab, and My inward parts for Kirharesh.
12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place (some codices read "unto": weary with climbing up to. Cp. 15:2), that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not obtain anything.
13 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning Moab since that time.
14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, "Within (some codices read "about") three years (from the death of Ahaz), as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be brought low, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very few and small."