Isaiah 16:1-9

1 Send a ram [to the] ruler [of the] land, from Sela [across the] desert to the mountain of {daughter Zion}.

2 And this shall be: like a bird fleeing [from] a thrust away nest shall be the daughters of Moab [at the] fords of Arnon.

3 "Bring counsel, make a decision; make your shade like the night in the middle of noonday. Hide [the] outcasts; you must not betray the fugitive.

4 Let my outcasts [of] Moab dwell as aliens among you; be a hiding place for them from [the] presence of [the] destroyer." When the oppressor is no more, destruction has stopped, [the] {one who tramples has} disappeared from the land,

5 then a throne shall be established in steadfast love, and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and zealous for righteousness.

6 We have heard [of] the pride of Moab--exceedingly proud-- [of] his arrogance, pride, and insolence; {his boasting is not true}.

7 Therefore Moab wails; all of it wails for Moab, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you moan, {utterly devastated}.

8 For Heshbon withers the fields, the vine of Sibmah; rulers of nations have broken down her tendrils, they reached up to Jazer, they wandered [to the] desert; her shoots spread abroad, they crossed over [the] sea.

9 Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer [for] the vine of Sibmah. I drench you [with] my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for a jubilant shout has fallen over your summer fruit and harvest.

Isaiah 16:1-9 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Possibly "rams" if a scribe accidentally omitted the Hebrew plural ending because the next word begins with that same letter
• [b]. Literally "the daughter of Zion"
• [c]. Literally "one who tramples have," with mismatched singular and plural
• [d]. Literally "not so his boasting"
• [e]. Literally "surely destroyed"
• [f]. Hebrew "tear"