Isaiah 16

Meaning First Bible · Isaiah · chapter 16 of 66

1Send the tribute lambs to the ruler of the land, from Crag in the desert to the mount of Daughter Marker.

2Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of From-the-Father at the fords of the Rushing-Stream:

3“Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.

4Let my fugitives stay with you; be a refuge for From-the-Father from the destroyer.” When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ceased, and the oppressors have vanished from the land,

5in loving devotion a throne will be established in the tent of Beloved. A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness will sit on it in faithfulness.

6We have heard of From-the-Father’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.

7Therefore let From-the-Father wail; let them wail together for From-the-Father. Moan for the raisin cakes of Wall-of-Potsherd, you who are utterly stricken.

8For the fields of Reckoning have withered, along with the grapevines of Spice. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as He-Helps and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the Sea.

9So I weep with He-Helps for the vines of Spice; I drench Reckoning and God-Has-Gone-Up with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.

10Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards. No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses; I have put an end to the cheering.

11Therefore my heart laments for From-the-Father like a harp, my inmost being for Wall-of-Potsherd-heres.

12When From-the-Father appears on the high place, when he wearies himself and enters his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.

13This is the message that He-Who-Is spoke earlier concerning From-the-Father.

14And now He-Who-Is says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, From-the-Father’s splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble.”