Moab is exhorted to yield obedience to the throne of David, 1-5. Moab is threatened for her pride, 6-8. The prophet bewails her, 9-11. The judgment of Moab, 12-14.
1 Send the lamb to the ruler of the land/
from Sela to the wilderness,/
to the mountain 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 your shadow as the night/
in the midst of the noon-day./
Hide the outcasts./
Do not discover him who wanders.
4 Let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab./
Be a covert to them/
from the face of the destroyer./
For the extortioner is at an end./
Devastation ceases./
The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5 And in mercy the throne shall be established./
And he shall sit upon it in truth/
in the tabernacle of David,/
judging, seeking judgment,/
and hastening righteousness.
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab,/
that he is very proud,/
even of his haughtiness, his pride, and his wrath./
But his lies shall not be so.
7 Therefore, Moab shall howl for Moab,/
everyone shall howl./
For the foundations of Kir-hareseth you shall mourn./
Surely they are stricken.
8 For the fields of Heshbon/
and the vine of Sibmah languish./
The lords of the heathen/
have broken down her principal plants./
They have come even to Jazer/
and they wandered through the wilderness./
Her branches are extended,/
they have gone over the sea.
9 Therefore, I will wail with the weeping of Jazer/
for the vine of Sibmah./
I will water you with my tears,/
O Heshbon and Elealeh,/
for on your summer fruits and on your harvest/
the battle shout has fallen.
10 And gladness and joy are taken away/
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 Therefore, my heart 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 has spoken concerning Moab since that time. 14 But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant shall be very small and feeble."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 16[➚]
[v.9] - "battle shout" - From the Pulpit Commentary: "The shouting intended is that of the invading enemy, which replaces the ordinary joy-song of the vintagers (see ver. 10)."