Isaiah 16:1-5

1 Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of Daughter Zion.

2 Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.

3 “Make up your mind,” Moab says. “Render a decision. Make your shadow like night— at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees.

4 Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.” The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land.

5 In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it— one from the house^[a] of David— one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.

Isaiah 16:1-5 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 16

This chapter is a continuation of the prophecy against Moab; in which the prophet gives good advice, but in case of a haughty neglect of it, which he foresaw, threatens with ruin, and fixes a time for it. He advises the Moabites to pay their tribute to the king of Judah, or otherwise they should be turned out of their land, as a bird out of its nest, Isa 16:1,2 to protect, and not betray the people of the Jews that should flee to them, because of the Assyrian army, Isa 16:3,4 and for this end gives a great character of the king of Judah, and assures them of the stability of his kingdom, Isa 16:5 but for their pride, wrath, and lying, they are threatened with destruction, and are represented as howling under it, Isa 16:6,7 because of the spoil of their cities, vineyards, and fields, so that they have no harvest, nor vintage, nor gathering of summer fruits, or joy on these accounts, Isa 16:8-10 for which even the prophet expresses a concern, Isa 16:11 and after having observed the application of the Moabites to their gods without success, Isa 16:12 the chapter is closed with an assurance of the certain ruin of Moab, and of the time when it should be, Isa 16:13,14.

Cross References

• 1. S 2 Kings 3:4
• 2. S 2 Chronicles 32:23
• 3. S Judges 1:36; Ob 3 "fn"; 2 Kings 14:7
• 4. S Isaiah 10:32
• 5. Proverbs 27:8
• 6. Numbers 21:29
• 7. Judges 12:5
• 8. Numbers 21:13-14; Jeremiah 48:20
• 9. S 1 Kings 18:4
• 10. Isaiah 58:7
• 11. S Isaiah 9:4
• 12. Isaiah 2:2-4
• 13. S 1 Samuel 13:14; Daniel 7:14; Micah 4:7
• 14. S Proverbs 20:28
• 15. S Isaiah 7:2; Luke 1:32
• 16. S Isaiah 9:7

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "tent"