Isa 16 | EE | STEP | Send young sheep from the ruler of the country to Jerusalem. Send them from Sela across the desert to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem).

Isaiah 16

More about Moab

1 Send young sheep from the ruler of the country to Jerusalem. Send them from Sela across the desert to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem).

2 The women from Moab are crossing the River Arnon. They are like birds that are learning to fly. The mother bird pushes those little birds out from their home.

3 Tell us what we should do! Be fair about what you say! Cause your shadow over us to seem like it is night in the middle of the day! Hide the refugees! Do not show to their enemies the people who have run away!

4 Let the people from Moab who are running away stay with you. Hide them from the enemy that is killing them.

It is true! People will not be cruel to those who are weak. People will not destroy things. People who fight will disappear from the country.

5 Someone from David’s descendants will make a kingdom. The man who rules it will be fair and honest. He will be a fair judge. He will decide rightly. And he will quickly cause his people to do what is right.

6 We have heard about the pride of Moab. Moab was very proud. Because of its pride, Moab thought that it was better than other people. And Moab said things that were not kind to them.

7 So Moab weeps. All Moab weeps for itself. Sing a sad song. And cry for the cakes that they made with very dry grapes from Kir-Hareseth!

8 It is true! There are no plants in the fields in Heshbon. And there is nothing on the vine of Sibmah. The rulers of other countries have destroyed its branches. The branches reached to Jazer and as far as the desert. Its new branches grew and they crossed over the (Dead) Sea.

9 Because of that, I weep for the vine of Sibmah, as Jazer weeps. I put my tears all over you, Heshbon and Elealeh.

It is true! The noise of war has fallen on your plants and on your fruit. ^{▼▼16:9 Verses 8 and 9 Isaiah seems to write about the vines in Sibmah like they were one big vine.}

10 Nobody is really happy in the fields. Nobody sings in the vineyards. And no happy people are shouting in them. Nobody jumps on the grapes in the places where they make wine. I have caused the noise to stop.

11 So, I cry deep inside me for Moab. It is like the sad sound of a harp. And I am hurting for Kir-Hareseth.

12 And when the people in Moab come to their high-place, they will become very tired. They come to pray at their temple. But when they pray at it, nothing will happen.

13 Those are the words that the LORD has already spoken about Moab. 14 But now the LORD says, ‘In the next three years, all Moab’s glory will have gone. Count those years like the years that people pay a worker. Then the LORD will cause all Moab’s many proud people to become a small group. And only a few of them will still be alive, a very small number. Nobody will think that they are important.’