Moab's envoys are urged to send tribute to Jerusalem and to shelter the outcasts. Isaiah foretells that a throne will be established in steadfast love, and then he mourns the destruction of Moab's vineyards and pride.
1 Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness , unto the mount 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 thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday ; hide the outcasts ; bewray not him that wandereth .
4 Let 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 .
5 And 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 .
6 We 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.
7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab , every one shall howl : for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn ; surely they are stricken .
8 For 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 .
9 Therefore 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 .
10 And 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 .
11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab , and mine inward parts for Kirharesh .
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 hath spoken concerning Moab since that time .
14 But 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 .