Shelter for the Outcasts
Moab's refugees flutter like a scattered nest and are told to shelter under Zion's shade, with a throne of covenant love held out. But Moab's pride is empty boasting, and his prayers on the high place will not prevail. Our Father has spoken; the prophet weeps anyway.
16 1Send the lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela by way of the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. 2Like fluttering birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. 3Give counsel; grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon. Hide the outcasts; do not betray the fugitive. 4Let my outcasts dwell among you, Moab; be a shelter to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and the tramplers have vanished from the land, 5then a throne will be established in covenant love, and on it will sit in faithfulness, in the tent of David, one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness. 6We have heard of Moab's pride—how very proud he is—of his arrogance, his pride, and his fury; his boasting is empty. 7Therefore let Moab wail for Moab; let everyone wail. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth. 8For the fields of Heshbon wither, and the vine of Sibmah; the rulers of the nations have struck down its choice branches, which reached as far as Jazer and strayed into the wilderness; its shoots spread out and crossed over the sea. 9Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for over your summer fruit and your harvest the battle shout has fallen. 10Joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are raised. No one treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting. 11Therefore my heart moans like a lyre for Moab, my inmost being for Kir-heres. a a v11 Our Father's heart moans even over Moab — his grief reaches every people his judgment touches. 12And when Moab presents himself, when he wears himself out on the high place and comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail. b b v12 A 'high place' was a hilltop shrine used for pagan worship and sacrifice.
13This is the word that our Father spoke concerning Moab in the past.
14But now our Father has spoken: "In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be scorned, in spite of all his great numbers; and the remnant will be very few and feeble."
