Isaiah 16:1-8

1 Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of Daughter Zion.

2 Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.

3 “Make up your mind,” Moab says. “Render a decision. Make your shadow like night— at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees.

4 Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.” The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land.

5 In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it— one from the house^[a] of David— one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.

6 We have heard of Moab’s pride— how great is her arrogance!— of her conceit, her pride and her insolence; but her boasts are empty.

7 Therefore the Moabites wail, they wail together for Moab. Lament and grieve for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.

8 The fields of Heshbon wither, the vines of Sibmah also. The rulers of the nations have trampled down the choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots spread out and went as far as the sea.^[b]

Isaiah 16:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 16

This chapter is a continuation of the prophecy against Moab; in which the prophet gives good advice, but in case of a haughty neglect of it, which he foresaw, threatens with ruin, and fixes a time for it. He advises the Moabites to pay their tribute to the king of Judah, or otherwise they should be turned out of their land, as a bird out of its nest, Isa 16:1,2 to protect, and not betray the people of the Jews that should flee to them, because of the Assyrian army, Isa 16:3,4 and for this end gives a great character of the king of Judah, and assures them of the stability of his kingdom, Isa 16:5 but for their pride, wrath, and lying, they are threatened with destruction, and are represented as howling under it, Isa 16:6,7 because of the spoil of their cities, vineyards, and fields, so that they have no harvest, nor vintage, nor gathering of summer fruits, or joy on these accounts, Isa 16:8-10 for which even the prophet expresses a concern, Isa 16:11 and after having observed the application of the Moabites to their gods without success, Isa 16:12 the chapter is closed with an assurance of the certain ruin of Moab, and of the time when it should be, Isa 16:13,14.

Cross References

• 1. S 2 Kings 3:4
• 2. S 2 Chronicles 32:23
• 3. S Judges 1:36; Ob 3 "fn"; 2 Kings 14:7
• 4. S Isaiah 10:32
• 5. Proverbs 27:8
• 6. Numbers 21:29
• 7. Judges 12:5
• 8. Numbers 21:13-14; Jeremiah 48:20
• 9. S 1 Kings 18:4
• 10. Isaiah 58:7
• 11. S Isaiah 9:4
• 12. Isaiah 2:2-4
• 13. S 1 Samuel 13:14; Daniel 7:14; Micah 4:7
• 14. S Proverbs 20:28
• 15. S Isaiah 7:2; Luke 1:32
• 16. S Isaiah 9:7
• 17. Jeremiah 25:21; Ezekiel 25:8; Amos 2:1; Zephaniah 2:8
• 18. S Leviticus 26:19; S Job 20:6; Jeremiah 49:16; Obadiah 1:3; Zephaniah 2:10
• 19. S Isaiah 13:6; Jeremiah 48:20; Jeremiah 49:3
• 20. S 1 Chronicles 16:3
• 21. S 2 Kings 3:25
• 22. S Numbers 21:25
• 23. S Isaiah 15:6
• 24. S Numbers 32:3
• 25. S Isaiah 5:2
• 26. S Numbers 21:32
• 27. S Job 8:16
• 28. Psalms 80:11

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "tent"
• [b]. Probably the Dead Sea