Isaiah 16:1-9 ▼

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

2 Like 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;

4 let 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,

5 then 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.

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab —how proud he is!— of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; his boasts are false.

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

8 For 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.

9 Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer 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.