Isaiah 16

Chapter context

What is happening in Isaiah 16?

holinessjudgmentremnantmessiah

Isaiah 16 belongs to the early movement of the book, especially the section often described as oracles of judgment and holiness. Isaiah is one of Scripture’s grandest prophetic books, moving from holy judgment to consolation, servant imagery, and new-creation hope. Read this chapter with the wider themes of holiness, judgment, and remnant in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

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.

Study helps

Glossary

Sela Place v. 1: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Sela.
Zion Place v. 1: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
Arnon Place v. 2: Biblical river. Modern identification: Wadi Mujib.
Moab Place v. 2-4, 6-8, 11-14: Biblical region. Modern identification: Kerak.
David Person v. 5: Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam. 17:25 .
Tabernacle Object v. 5: (1. ) A house or dwelling-place ( Job 5:24 ; 18:6 , etc. ). (2. ) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24 ) containing the image of Moloch ( Amos 5:26 ; marg. and R. V., “Siccuth”). (3. ) The human body.
Kir-hareseth Place v. 7, 11: Built fortress, a city and fortress of Moab, the modern Kerak, a small town on the brow of a steep hill about 6 miles from Rabbath-Moab and 10 miles from the Dead Sea.
Heshbon Place v. 8-9: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tell Hesban.
Jazer Place v. 8-9: He (God) helps, a city of the Amorites on the east of Jordan, and assigned, with neighbouring places in Gilead, to Gad ( Num. 32:1 , 35; Josh. 13:25 ). It was allotted to the Merarite Levites (21:39). Modern identification: Khirbet Sara.
Salt Sea Place v. 8: (Heb. yam), signifies (1) “the gathering together of the waters,” the ocean ( Gen. 1:10 ); (2) a river, as the Nile ( Isa. 19:5 ), the Euphrates ( Isa. 21:1 ; Jer. 51:36 ); (3) the Red Sea. Modern identification: Dead Sea.
Sibmah Place v. 8-9: Coolness; fragrance, a town in Reuben, in the territory of Moab, on the east of Jordan ( Josh. 13:19 ); called also Shebam and Shibmah ( Num. 32:3 , 38). It was famous for its vines ( Isa. 16:9 ; Jer. 48:32 ). Modern identification: Qarn al Qubish.
Elealeh Place v. 9: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Al ‘Al.