Isaiah 16:1-10

Prophecy of Moab's Devastation

1 ¹Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land, From ²Sela by way of the wilderness to the ³mountain of the daughter of Zion.

2 Then, like ⁴fleeing birds or scattered nestlings, The daughters of ⁵Moab will be at the fords of the ⁶Arnon.

3 "Give us advice, make a decision; Cast your ⁷shadow like night at high noon; ⁸Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.

4 "Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you; Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer." For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased, ⁹Oppressors have completely disappeared from the land.

5 A ¹⁰throne will even be established in lovingkindness, And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of ¹¹David; Moreover, he will seek justice And be prompt in righteousness.

6 ¹²We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride; Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury; ¹³His idle boasts are false *.

7 Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail. You will moan for the ¹⁴raisin cakes of ¹⁵Kir-hareseth As those who are utterly stricken.

8 For the fields of ¹⁶Heshbon have withered, the vines of ¹⁷Sibmah as well; The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts; ¹⁸Its tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea.

9 Therefore * I will ¹⁹weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah; I will drench you with my tears, O ²⁰Heshbon and Elealeh; For the shouting over your ²¹summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.

10 ²²Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field; In the ²³vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting, No ²⁴treader treads out wine in the presses, For I have made the shouting to cease.

Isaiah 16:1-10 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. 2 Kings 3:4; Ezra 7:17
• 2. 2 Kings 14:7; Isaiah 42:11
• 3. Isaiah 10:32
• 4. Proverbs 27:8
• 5. Jeremiah 48:20, 46
• 6. Numbers 21:13, 14
• 7. Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 32:2
• 8. 1 Kings 18:4
• 9. Isaiah 9:4; Isaiah 14:4; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 51:13; Isaiah 54:14
• 10. Isaiah 9:6, 7; Isaiah 32:1; Isaiah 55:4; Daniel 7:14; Micah 4:7; Luke 1:33
• 11. Isaiah 9:7
• 12. Jeremiah 48:29; Amos 2:1; Obad 3, 4; Zephaniah 2:8, 10
• 13. Jeremiah 48:30
• 14. 1 Chronicles 16:3
• 15. 2 Kings 3:25; Jeremiah 48:31
• 16. Isaiah 15:4
• 17. Numbers 32:38
• 18. Jeremiah 48:32
• 19. Jeremiah 48:32
• 20. Isaiah 15:4
• 21. Jeremiah 40:10, 12; Jeremiah 48:32
• 22. Isaiah 24:8; Jeremiah 48:33
• 23. Judges 9:27; Isaiah 24:7; Amos 5:11, 17
• 24. Job 24:11; Amos 9:13

Footnotes

• [a] I.e. Petra in Edom
• [b] Or "fluttering"
• [c] Lit "nest"
• [d] Lit "Bring"
• [e] Lit "Set"
• [f] Lit "in the midst of the noon"
• [g] So the versions; M.T. "My outcasts, as for Moab"
• [h] Lit "not so"
• [i] Or "languished"