Isaiah 15

An Oracle Concerning Moab

1 An a oracle concerning b Moab.

Because c Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone;
because d Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone.
 2 He has gone up to the temple ▼
▼ Hebrew  the house
 and to f Dibon,
to the high places ▼
▼ Or temple, even Dibon to the high places
 to weep;
over h Nebo and over i Medeba
Moab j wails.
On every head is k baldness;
every beard is shorn;
 3 in the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the housetops and in the squares
everyone wails and melts in tears.
 4  l Heshbon and m Elealeh cry out;
their voice is heard as far as n Jahaz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
his soul trembles.
 5 My heart cries out for Moab;
her fugitives flee to Zoar,
to o Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the p ascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
on the road to q Horonaim
they raise a cry of destruction;
 6 the waters of r Nimrim
are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,
the greenery is no more.
 7  s Therefore the abundance they have gained
and what they have laid up
they carry away
over the Brook of the Willows.
 8 For a cry has gone
around the land of Moab;
her wailing reaches to Eglaim;
her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
 9 For the waters of t Dibon ▼
▼ Dead Sea Scroll, Vulgate (compare Syriac); Masoretic Text Dimon; twice in this verse
 are full of blood;
for I will bring upon Dibon even more,
v a lion for those of Moab who escape,
for the remnant of the land.

Isaiah 16

1  w Send the lamb to the ruler of the land,
from x Sela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
 2 Like fleeing birds,
like a scattered nest,
so are the daughters of Moab
at y the fords of the Arnon.
 3  “Give counsel;
grant justice;
z make your shade like night
at the height of noon;
shelter the outcasts;
do not reveal the fugitive;
 4 let aa the outcasts of Moab
sojourn among you;
be a shelter to them ▼
▼ Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; Masoretic Text  let my outcasts sojourn among you; as for Moab, be a shelter to them

from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,
 5  ac then 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  ad We have heard of the pride of Moab—
how proud he is!—
ae of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
in his idle boasting he is not right.
 7 Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,
af let everyone wail.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
for the ag raisin cakes of ah Kir-hareseth.
 8  For the fields of Heshbon languish,
and ai the 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 aj I weep with ak the weeping of Jazer
for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for over al your summer fruit and your harvest
the shout has ceased.
 10  am And joy and gladness are taken away from an the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no ao songs are sung,
no cheers are raised;
no ap treader treads out wine aq in the presses;
I have put an end to the shouting.
 11 Therefore ar my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,
and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

12 And when Moab presents himself, when as he wearies himself on at the 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 au in the past. 14 But now the  Lord has spoken, saying, “In three years, av like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be aw very few and feeble.”

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