Isaiah

aMeaning of this verse and the next uncertain. Dispatch as messengerThe ruler of the land,From Sela in the wildernessTo the mount of Fair Zion:

“Like fugitive birds,Like nestlings driven away,Moab’s villagers lingerBy the fords of the Arnon.

Give advice,Offer counsel.bOffer counsel Meaning of Heb. uncertain. At high noon makeYour shadow like night:Conceal the outcasts,Betray not the fugitives.

Let Moab’s outcastscMoab’s outcasts Heb. “my outcasts, Moab.” Find asylum in you;Be a shelter for themAgainst the despoiler.”For violence has vanished,Rapine is ended,And marauders have perished from this land.

And a throne shall be established in goodnessIn the tent of David,And on it shall sit in faithfulnessA ruler devoted to justiceAnd zealous for equity.dHere 14.32 would read well.

“We have heard of Moab’s pride—Most haughty is he—Of his pride and haughtiness and arrogance,And of the iniquity in him.”ein him Heb. baddaw is a suffixed form of the preposition bede: Nah. 2.13; Hab. 2.13; Job 39.25; with suffixes, Job 11.3; 41.4.

Ah, let Moab howl;Let all in Moab howl!For the raisin-cakesfraisin-cakes Cf. Jer. 48.36 “men.” of Kir-haresethYou shall moan most pitifully.

The vineyards of Heshbon are withered,And the vines of Sibmah;Their tendrils spreadTo Baale-goiim,gTheir tendrils spread / To Baale-goiim Meaning of Heb. uncertain. And reached to Jazer,And strayed to the desert;Their shoots spread outAnd crossed the sea.

Therefore,As I weep for Jazer,So I weep for Sibmah’s vines;O Heshbon and Elealeh,I drench you with my tears.Ended are the shoutsOver your fig and grain harvests.hEnded are the shouts / Over your fig and grain harvests Cf. Jer. 48.32 “A ravager has come down / Upon your fig and grape harvests.”

Rejoicing and gladnessAre gone from the farmland;In the vineyards no shoutingOr cheering is heard.No more does the treaderTread wine in the presses—The shouts have been silenced.ihave been silenced Lit. “I have silenced.”

Therefore,Like a lyre my heart moans for Moab,And my very soul for Kir-heres.

And when it has become apparent that Moab has gained nothing in the outdoor shrine, he shall come to pray in his temple—but to no avail.

That is the word that GOD spoke concerning Moab long ago.

And now GOD has spoken: In three years, fixed like the years of a hired laborer, Moab’s population, with all its huge multitude, shall shrink. Only a remnant shall be left, of no consequence.