Isaiah 16
16
A New Government in the David Tradition
1-4a “Dispatch a gift of lambs,” says Moab,
“to the leaders in Jerusalem—
Lambs from Sela sent across the desert
to buy the goodwill of Jerusalem.
The towns and people of Moab
are at a loss,
New-hatched birds knocked from the nest,
fluttering helplessly
At the banks of the Arnon River,
unable to cross:
‘Tell us what to do,
help us out!
Protect us,
hide us!
Give the refugees from Moab
sanctuary with you.
Be a safe place for those on the run
from the killing fields.’”
4b-5 “When this is all over,” Judah answers,
“the tyrant toppled,
The killing at an end,
all signs of these cruelties long gone,
A new government of love will be established
in the venerable David tradition.
A Ruler you can depend upon
will head this government,
A Ruler passionate for justice,
a Ruler quick to set things right.”
* * *
6-12We’ve heard—everyone’s heard!—of Moab’s pride,
world-famous for pride—
Arrogant, self-important, insufferable,
full of hot air.
So now let Moab lament for a change,
with antiphonal mock-laments from the neighbors!
What a shame! How terrible!
No more fine fruitcakes and Kir-hareseth candies!
All those lush Heshbon fields dried up,
the rich Sibmah vineyards withered!
Foreign thugs have crushed and torn out
the famous grapevines
That once reached all the way to Jazer,
right to the edge of the desert,
Ripped out the crops in every direction
as far as the eye can see.
I’ll join the weeping. I’ll weep right along with Jazer,
weep for the Sibmah vineyards.
And yes, Heshbon and Elealeh,
I’ll mingle my tears with your tears!
The joyful shouting at harvest is gone.
Instead of song and celebration, dead silence.
No more boisterous laughter in the orchards,
no more hearty work songs in the vineyards.
Instead of the bustle and sound of good work in the fields,
silence—deathly and deadening silence.
My heartstrings throb like harp strings for Moab,
my soul in sympathy for sad Kir-heres.
When Moab trudges to the shrine to pray,
he wastes both time and energy.
Going to the sanctuary and praying for relief
is useless. Nothing ever happens.
13-14This is God’s earlier Message on Moab. God’s updated Message is, “In three years, no longer than the term of an enlisted soldier, Moab’s impressive presence will be gone, that splendid hot-air balloon will be punctured, and instead of a vigorous population, just a few shuffling bums panhandling handouts.”
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Isaiah 16: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 16
16
1Send a lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Tsiyon.
2And it shall be, like a wandering bird, a nest thrown out, so are the daughters of Mo’aḇ at the fords of Arnon.
3“Bring counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day; hide the outcasts, do not betray him who escapes.
4“Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Mo’aḇ; be a shelter to them from the face of the ravager. For the oppressor has met his end, destruction has ceased, those trampling down have perished from the land.
5“And in loving-commitment the throne shall be established. And One shall sit on it in truth, in the Tent of Dawiḏ, judging and seeking right-ruling, and speeding righteousness.”
6We have heard of the pride of Mo’aḇ – very proud – of his pride, his arrogance and his rage. His boastings are not true.
7So Mo’aḇ wails for Mo’aḇ, everyone wails. For the raisin-cakes of Qir Ḥareseth they moan. They are utterly smitten.
8For the fields of Ḥeshbon languish – the vine of Siḇmah. The masters of the nations have broken down its choice plants, which have reached to Ya‛zĕr and wandered through the wilderness. Her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
9Therefore I bewail the vine of Siḇmah, with the weeping of Ya‛zĕr. I water you with my tears, O Ḥeshbon and El‛alĕh, for acclamation has fallen over your summer fruit and your harvest.
10Gladness is taken away, and joy from the orchard; in the vineyards there is no singing, nor shouting; No treaders tread out wine in their presses; I have made their acclamation cease.
11Therefore my inward parts sound like a lyre for Mo’aḇ, and my inner being for Qir Ḥeres.
12And it shall be, when it is seen that Mo’aḇ has wearied herself on the high place, that she shall come to her set-apart place to pray, but not be able.
13This is the word which יהוה has spoken concerning Mo’aḇ since that time.
14But now יהוה has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as the years of a hired man, the esteem of Mo’aḇ is to be despised with all its great throng, and the remnant be few, small and weak.”
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