Isaiah 16:1-13

Send a flock of lambs from the rock of the desert as a gift to the leaders in Jerusalem, to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion. At the banks of the River Arnon, the women of Moab are like newly hatched, fluttering birds. They say, “Make a decision! Give us shelter. Hide the fugitives. Don’t betray them! Allow the Moabite fugitives to stay with you. Be a shelter for them from the destroyer!” One day the oppressor will be no more. The destroyer will come to an end, and the tyrant will vanish from the land. Then a government of unfailing love will be established, with a faithful king in the tabernacle of David, passionate for justice and swift to do what is right. We have heard about Moab’s pride. How haughty she is—filled with arrogance and insolence, with nothing more than empty boasts! So now Moab will wail; everyone will wail over the ruin of their country. Lament and grieve for the foundations of Kir-Hareseth. All the lush fields of Heshbon are dried up. The vineyards of Sibmah have struck down the lords of nations, whose vines reached northward to Jazer and spread to the desert. Their shoots spread out and extend across the Dead Sea. So I weep along with Jazer over the vines of Sibmah. I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh, for the shouts of joy over the harvest of fruit and grain have ceased. Joyful celebrations are stilled in the orchards; in the vineyards, no one sings or shouts, and no one treads out wine in the presses. I have silenced your gleeful shouts. Like harp strings, my heartstrings throb for Moab, and my inner being sighs for your broken walls, Kir-Hareseth. When Moab comes to their high places to plead with all their might and enter their temples to pray, it will have no effect. This was the word the Lord YAHWEH spoke in the past about Moab