Isaiah 16:3

3 "Give [us] counsel! Decide [to help]! Make your shadow [over us] like night in the middle of noonday. Hide [our] outcasts! Don't betray [our] fugitives!

Isaiah 16:3 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 16:3

Take counsel, execute judgment
This refers either to what goes before, that they would take the counsel given, and do that which was just and right, by paying tribute to the king of Judah; or to what follows, that they would enter into a consultation, the king of Moab with his nobles, and resolve upon what was right, and do it, by protecting and harbouring the distressed Jews, who would flee unto them from the enemy: make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday;
a time of the greatest heat, to which the Assyrian army, for its force and fury, and the mischief done by it, is compared: and the Moabites they are advised to make a shadow, as large and as strong as the dark night, that is, to protect the Jews in their distress, and to refresh and comfort them under it; see ( Isaiah 4:6 ) ( Isaiah 25:4 Isaiah 25:5 ) : hide the outcasts;
such as were driven out of their land through the fury and persecution of the enemy, receive and conceal, as Rahab did the spies: bewray not him that wandereth;
from his native place, as a bird from its nest, being forced to it; such an one, or as many as may be, in such a case, do not discover them where they are, or betray them, and deliver them up into the hands of their enemy.

Isaiah 16:3 In-Context

1 Send lambs for the ruler of the land from the crags toward the desert to the mountain of the daughter of Tziyon.
2 The daughters of Mo'av at the fords of the Arnon are like fluttering birds pushed from the nest.
3 "Give [us] counsel! Decide [to help]! Make your shadow [over us] like night in the middle of noonday. Hide [our] outcasts! Don't betray [our] fugitives!
4 Let our outcasts live with you! Protect Mo'av from the attacks of robbers!" For when the extorting ends, the spoiling ceases, and those trampling on the land are destroyed,
5 a throne will be set up by grace, and on it, in the tent of David, will sit an honest judge, seeking justice and pursuing righteousness.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.