- Isaiah 16 (Contemporary English Version)
- Send lambs as gifts to the ruler of the land. Send them across the desert from Sela to Mount Zion.
- The women of Moab crossing the Arnon River are like a flock of birds scattered from their nests.
- Moab's messengers say to the people of Judah, "Be kind and help us! Shade us from the heat of the noonday sun. Hide our refugees! Don't turn them away.
- Let our people live in your country and find safety here." Moab, your cruel enemies will disappear; they will no longer attack and destroy your land.
- Then a kingdom of love will be set up, and someone from David's family will rule with fairness. He will do what is right and quickly bring justice.
- We have heard of Moab's pride. Its people strut and boast, but without reason.
- Tell everyone in Moab to mourn for their nation. Tell them to cry and weep for those fancy raisins of Kir-Hareseth.
- Vineyards near Heshbon and Sibmah have turned brown. The rulers of nations used to get drunk on wine from those vineyards that spread to Jazer, then across the desert and beyond the sea.
- Now I mourn like Jazer for the vineyards of Sibmah. I shed tears for Heshbon and for Elealeh. There will be no more harvest celebrations
- or joyful and happy times, while bringing in the crops. Singing and shouting are gone from the vineyards. There are no joyful shouts where grapes were pressed. God has silenced them all.
- Deep in my heart I hurt for Moab and Kir-Heres.
- It's useless for Moab's people to wear themselves out by going to their altars to worship and pray.
- The LORD has already said all of this about Moab.
- Now he says, "The contract of a hired worker is good for three years, but Moab's glory and greatness won't last any longer than that. Only a few of its people will survive, and they will be left helpless."
The destruction of Moab continues into chapter 16. The Moabites are on the run, refugees from the onslaught of their oppressors, the Assyrians. They are counseled in verse 1 to send lambs as tribute to the king of Judah as they had done previously with the king of Israel. In so doing they might find protection among God's people and in turning to God.
But Moab will not turn to God or seek the help of Judah for her pride, the sin that led her into this calamity, will counsel her to rely on herself. As a result, Isaiah says, "let Moab wail" for her devastation will come. (16:7) Accompanying the destruction of Moab's enemy will also be a drought that would wither her terraced vineyards. When Moab realizes her need for help and turns to her own gods, appearing on the high place, it will do no good. The only help available will come from the Lord God and Moab does not seek that help. Therefore, within three years, further destruction will come that will make Moab an object of contempt, leaving only a few who are weak who remain of Moab.
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