Isaiah 16:1-9

1 Send the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Tziyon.

2 For it shall be that, as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Mo'av be at the fords of the Arnon.

3 Give counsel, execute justice; make your shade as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; don't betray the fugitive.

4 Let my outcasts dwell with you; as for Mo'av, be a covert to him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortioner is brought to nothing, destruction ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

5 A throne shall be established in lovingkindness; and one shall sit thereon in truth, in the tent of David, judging, and seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.

6 We have heard of the pride of Mo'av, [that] he is very proud; even of his arrogance, and his pride, and his wrath; his boastings are nothing.

7 Therefore shall Mo'av wail for Mo'av, everyone shall wail: for the raisin-cakes of Kir-Hareset shall you mourn, utterly stricken.

8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, [and] the vine of Sivmah; the lords of the nations have broken down the choice branches of it, which reached even to Ya`zer, which wandered into the wilderness; its shoots were spread abroad, they passed over the sea.

9 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Ya`zer for the vine of Sivmah; I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and El`aleh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the [battle] shout is fallen.

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.