Isaiah 16 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Moab’s Destruction

1Send the tribute lambs

to the ruler of the land,

from Sela in the desert

to the mount of Daughter Zion.

2Like fluttering birds

pushed out of the nest,

so are the daughters of Moab

at the fords of the Arnon:

3“Give us counsel;

render a decision.

Shelter us at noonday

with shade as dark as night.

Hide the refugees;

do not betray the one who flees.

4Let my fugitives stay with you;

be a refuge for Moab from the destroyer.”

When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ceased,

and the oppressors have vanished from the land,

5in loving devotion a throne will be established

in the tent of David.

A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness

will sit on it in faithfulness.

6We have heard of Moab’s pomposity,

his exceeding pride and conceit,

his overflowing arrogance.

But his boasting is empty.

7Therefore let Moab wail;

let them wail together for Moab.

Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth,

you who are utterly stricken.

8For the fields of Heshbon have withered,

along with the grapevines of Sibmah.

The rulers of the nations

have trampled its choicest vines,

which had reached as far as Jazer

and spread toward the desert.

Their shoots had spread out

and passed over the sea.

9So I weep with Jazer

for the vines of Sibmah;

I drench Heshbon and Elealeh

with my tears.

Triumphant shouts have fallen silent

over your summer fruit and your harvest.

10Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard;

no one sings or shouts in the vineyards.

No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses;

I have put an end to the cheering.

11Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp,

my inmost being for Kir-heres.

12When Moab appears on the high place,

when he wearies himself

and enters his sanctuary to pray,

it will do him no good.