| Chapter 16 |
1 | Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion. |
2 | For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. |
3 | Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noon-day; hide the outcasts; discover not him that wandereth. |
4 | Let my outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. |
5 | And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. |
6 | We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so. |
7 | Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken. |
8 | For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down her principal plants, they have come even to Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are extended, they have gone over the sea. |
9 | Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen. |
10 | And gladness is taken away, and joy from the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage-shouting to cease. |
11 | Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir-haresh. |
12 | And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail. |
13 | This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time. |
14 | But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble. |