Naravist

The Prophets · Old Testament

Isaiah 16

Isaiah 16: Moab's plea for shelter, its pride, and a three-year limit

General context

The burden continues with a command to send the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela through the wilderness to the mount of the daughter of Zion. The daughters of Moab are like a bird cast from its nest at the fords of Arnon. Someone is asked to take counsel, give shade like night at noon, hide the outcasts and not betray the wanderer, to let the outcasts dwell with them and be a covert from the spoiler, because the extortioner and spoiler will end; a throne will be established in mercy in the tabernacle of David, with one sitting on it in truth, seeking judgment. We have heard of the pride of Moab, the speaker says, his haughtiness and wrath, but his lies will not stand. Moab howls for Moab and mourns the foundations of Kir-hareseth. The fields of Heshbon and the vine of Sibmah languish, their principal plants broken by the lords of the heathen, their branches once reaching to Jazer and over the sea. The speaker bewails the vine of Sibmah and waters Heshbon and Elealeh with tears; gladness leaves the field, no one sings in the vineyards, and the treaders tread no wine, since the vintage shouting has been made to cease. The speaker's inward parts sound like a harp for Moab and Kir-haresh. When Moab is weary on the high place and comes to its sanctuary to pray, it does not prevail. This is the word the Lord spoke concerning Moab since that time; but now the Lord has spoken that within three years, as the years of an hireling, the glory of Moab will be contemned with its multitude, and its remnant very small and feeble.

Cited passages: Isaiah 16:1, Isaiah 16:2, Isaiah 16:3, Isaiah 16:4, Isaiah 16:5, Isaiah 16:6, Isaiah 16:7, Isaiah 16:8, Isaiah 16:9, Isaiah 16:10, Isaiah 16:11, Isaiah 16:12, Isaiah 16:13, Isaiah 16:14

Isaiah 16 (KJV)

1Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2For 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.

3Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.

4Let mine 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.

5And 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.

6We 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.

7Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.

8For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.

9Therefore 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.

10And gladness is taken away, and joy out of 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.

11Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.

12And 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.

13This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.

14But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The chapter has no heading of its own and completes the burden of Moab begun in chapter fifteen, as its thirteenth verse says in closing. The addressee of the plea in verses three and four is uncertain in the text: the speaker's outcasts, mine outcasts, are to dwell with thee, Moab, which reads as Moab being asked to shelter them, while the lamb is sent toward the mount of the daughter of Zion and the throne is in the tabernacle of David, so the traffic runs between Moab and Zion in both directions and the text does not resolve who shelters whom. The one who sits on the throne is not named. The first-person voices shift again: We have heard of the pride of Moab is plural, I will bewail and my bowels shall sound are a single mourner, and I have made their vintage shouting to cease is a claim of agency that fits the Lord. The lords of the heathen who broke Sibmah's vine are unnamed. The only time marker is the closing three years, as the years of an hireling, and the text distinguishes an earlier word spoken since that time from a new word now; neither is dated. Place names continue from chapter fifteen, with Sela, Arnon, Kir-hareseth, Sibmah, Jazer and Kir-haresh added.

Cited passages: Isaiah 16:13, Isaiah 16:4, Isaiah 16:1, Isaiah 16:5, Isaiah 16:6, Isaiah 16:9, Isaiah 16:10, Isaiah 16:8, Isaiah 16:14, Isaiah 16:2

Literary context

The chapter alternates plea, judgment and lament. It opens with an errand, a lamb sent to Zion, and a picture of Moab's daughters as fledglings pushed from the nest, then a run of imperatives asking for shade at noon and cover for outcasts, answered by a throne established in mercy. The sixth verse turns hard with pride and proud said three times in one line and a plain denial, his lies shall not be so. The judgment is delivered as vineyard language that echoes the song of chapter five: a vine whose branches went over the sea is broken, and the harvest shouting that should fill the presses is silenced, the word shouting repeated as what is fallen, what will not be, and what the Lord has made to cease. The mourner's body becomes an instrument, bowels that sound like an harp, so the lament of chapter fifteen is picked up in the speaker's own tears for Heshbon. Moab at prayer on the high place, weary and unable to prevail, is the last image before the prose close, which sets an old word beside a new one and ends the burden on a countdown and a remnant very small and feeble. Chapter seventeen begins a new burden with Damascus.

Cited passages: Isaiah 16:1, Isaiah 16:2, Isaiah 16:3, Isaiah 16:5, Isaiah 16:6, Isaiah 16:8, Isaiah 5:2, Isaiah 16:9, Isaiah 16:10, Isaiah 16:11, Isaiah 16:12, Isaiah 16:14, Isaiah 17:1

Key moments

  1. A lamb sent to Zion (Isaiah 16:1). The chapter opens with a command to send the lamb to the ruler at the daughter of Zion.
  2. Birds cast from the nest (Isaiah 16:2). The daughters of Moab wait at the fords of Arnon like fledglings.
  3. Shelter for the outcasts (Isaiah 16:4). Moab is asked to be a covert for the outcasts until the spoiler ends.
  4. A throne in mercy (Isaiah 16:5). A throne is established in the tabernacle of David with judgment and righteousness.
  5. The pride of Moab (Isaiah 16:6). The speakers say Moab's pride and wrath will not hold.
  6. No vintage shouting (Isaiah 16:10). Joy leaves the vineyards and the treaders tread no wine.
  7. Three years as an hireling (Isaiah 16:14). The Lord sets a limit after which Moab's glory is contemned.

For reflection

The oracle mourns Moab's vines with tears and, in the same breath, says his lies shall not be so. Can a reader tell from the text where the grief ends and the verdict begins?

People in this chapter