Isaiah 16:3

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.

Isaiah 16:3 in Other Translations

3 Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; betray not him that wandereth.

3 "Give counsel; grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; shelter the outcasts; do not reveal the fugitive;

3 “Help us,” they cry. “Defend us against our enemies. Protect us from their relentless attack. Do not betray us now that we have escaped.

3 'Tell us what to do, help us out! Protect us, hide us!

3 Give us counsel and make a decision. [Shelter us] at noonday with shade that is as dark as night. Hide the refugee; do not betray the one who flees.

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 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 of David— one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.

Cross References

• 1. S 1 Kings 18:4