Isaiah 16:3-13

3 "Give counsel; grant justice; ¹make your shade like night at the height of noon; shelter the outcasts; do not reveal the fugitive;

4 let ²the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you; be a shelter to them^[a] from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,

5 ³then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness."

6 ⁴We have heard of the pride of Moab-- how proud he is!-- ⁵of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; in his idle boasting he is not right.

7 Therefore let Moab wail for Moab, ⁶let everyone wail. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the ⁷raisin cakes of ⁸Kir-hareseth.

8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, and ⁹the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have struck down its branches, which reached to Jazer and strayed to the desert; its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea.

9 Therefore ¹⁰I weep with ¹¹the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for over ¹²your summer fruit and your harvest the shout has ceased.

10 ¹³And joy and gladness are taken away from ¹⁴the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no ¹⁵songs are sung, no cheers are raised; no ¹⁶treader treads out wine ¹⁷in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting.

11 Therefore ¹⁸my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

12 And when Moab presents himself, when ¹⁹he wearies himself on ²⁰the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.

13 This is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab ²¹in the past.

Isaiah 16:3-13 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. [1 Kings 18:4]
• 2. 1 Samuel 22:3
• 3. Isaiah 32:1, 2; Daniel 7:14, 27; Micah 4:7; Luke 1:33
• 4. Jeremiah 48:29; Zephaniah 2:10
• 5. Judges 3:14; 2 Kings 13:20; [2 Chronicles 20:1]
• 6. Isaiah 15:3
• 7. 2 Samuel 6:19; [ver. 9]
• 8. 2 Kings 3:25; [Isaiah 15:1]
• 9. Jeremiah 48:32
• 10. [Isaiah 15:5]
• 11. [See ver. 8 above]
• 12. [ver. 7]
• 13. Jeremiah 48:33
• 14. [Isaiah 9:3]
• 15. [Judges 9:27]
• 16. Isaiah 63:3; Jeremiah 25:30
• 17. Isaiah 5:2
• 18. Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:36
• 19. [1 Kings 18:29]
• 20. Isaiah 15:2; [Numbers 22:41; Numbers 23:14, 28]
• 21. See Amos 2:1-3

Footnotes

• [a]. Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; Masoretic Text let my outcasts sojourn among you; as for Moab, be a shelter to them