Font Size
Isaiah 16-18
New American Standard Bible
Isaiah 16-18
New American Standard Bible
Prophecy of Moab’s Devastation
16 (A)Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land,
From [a](B)Sela by way of the wilderness to the (C)mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2 Then, like (D)fluttering birds or scattered nestlings,
The daughters of (E)Moab will be at the crossing places of the (F)Arnon.
3 “[b]Give us advice, make a decision;
[c]Cast your (G)shadow like night [d]at high noon;
(H)Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.
4 Let the [e]outcasts of Moab stay with you;
Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.”
For the oppressor has come to an end, destruction has ceased,
(I)Oppressors have been removed from the land.
5 A (J)throne will be established in faithfulness,
And a judge will sit on it in trustworthiness in the tent of (K)David;
Moreover, he will seek justice,
And be prompt in righteousness.
6 (L)We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;
Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury;
(M)His idle boasts are [f]false.
7 Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.
You will moan for the (N)raisin cakes of (O)Kir-hareseth
As those who are utterly stricken.
8 For the fields of (P)Heshbon have [g]withered, the vines of (Q)Sibmah as well;
The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters
Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts;
(R)Its [h]tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea.
9 Therefore I will (S)weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah;
I will drench you with my tears, (T)Heshbon and Elealeh;
For the shouting over your (U)summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.
10 (V)Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;
In the (W)vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting,
No (X)treader treads out wine in the presses,
For I have made the shouting to cease.
11 Therefore my [i](Y)inner being sounds like a harp for Moab.
And my [j]heart for Kir-hareseth.
12 So it will come about when Moab (Z)presents himself,
When he (AA)tires himself upon his (AB)high place
And comes to his sanctuary to pray,
That he will not prevail.
13 This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as [k](AC)a hired worker would count them, the glory of (AD)Moab will become contemptible along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and [l]impotent.”
Prophecy about Damascus
17 The (AE)pronouncement concerning (AF)Damascus:
“Behold, Damascus is about to be (AG)removed from being a city
And will become a (AH)fallen ruin.
2 The cities [m]of (AI)Aroer are abandoned;
They will be for (AJ)herds [n]to lie down in,
And there will be (AK)no one to frighten them.
3 The [o](AL)fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
And [p]sovereignty from Damascus
And the remnant of Aram;
They will be like the (AM)glory of the sons of Israel,”
Declares the Lord of armies.
4 Now on that day the (AN)glory of Jacob will [q]fade,
And (AO)the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
5 It will be (AP)like the [r]reaper gathering the standing grain,
As his arm harvests the ears,
Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain
In the (AQ)Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet (AR)gleanings will be left in it like the [s]shaking of an olive tree,
Two or three olives on the topmost branch,
Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree,
Declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 On that day man will (AS)look to his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 And he will not look to the (AT)altars, the work of his hands,
Nor will he look to that which his (AU)fingers have made,
Even the [t](AV)Asherim and incense altars.
9 On that day [u]their strong cities will be like [v]abandoned places in the forest,
Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel;
And [w]the land will be a desolation.
10 For (AW)you have forgotten the (AX)God of your salvation
And have not remembered the (AY)rock of your refuge.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine shoots of a strange god.
11 On the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,
And in the (AZ)morning you bring your seed to blossom;
But the harvest will (BA)flee
On a day of illness and incurable pain.
12 Oh, the uproar of many peoples
(BB)Who roar like the roaring of the seas,
And the rumbling of nations
Who rush on like the (BC)rumbling of mighty waters!
13 The (BD)nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will (BE)rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
And be chased (BF)like chaff on the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before a gale.
14 At evening time, behold, there is terror!
Before morning (BG)they are gone.
This will be the [x]fate of those who plunder us
And the lot of those who pillage us.
Message to Ethiopia
18 Woe, land of whirring wings
Which lies beyond the rivers of [y](BH)Cush,
2 Which sends messengers by the sea,
Even in (BI)papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation [z](BJ)tall and smooth,
To a people (BK)feared [aa]far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation
Whose land the rivers divide.
3 (BL)All you who inhabit the world, and live on earth,
As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, (BM)you will see it,
And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.
4 For this is what the Lord has told me:
“I will quietly look [ab]from My (BN)dwelling place
Like dazzling heat in the [ac](BO)sunshine,
Like a cloud of (BP)dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For (BQ)before the harvest, as soon as the bud [ad]blossoms
And the flower becomes a ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
And remove and tear away the spreading branches.
6 They will be left together for mountain birds (BR)of prey,
And for the animals of the earth;
And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,
And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them.
7 At that time a gift of tribute will be brought to the Lord of armies
[ae]From a (BS)people [af]tall and smooth,
From a people feared [ag]far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the (BT)place of the name of the Lord of armies, to Mount Zion.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 16:1 I.e., Petra in Edom
- Isaiah 16:3 Lit Bring
- Isaiah 16:3 Lit Set
- Isaiah 16:3 Lit in the midst of the noon
- Isaiah 16:4 As in most ancient versions; MT My outcasts, as for Moab
- Isaiah 16:6 Lit not so
- Isaiah 16:8 Or dried out
- Isaiah 16:8 I.e., parts of a climbing plant that attach to its support
- Isaiah 16:11 Lit entrails murmur
- Isaiah 16:11 Lit inward parts
- Isaiah 16:14 Lit the years of a hired
- Isaiah 16:14 Lit not mighty
- Isaiah 17:2 LXX forever and ever
- Isaiah 17:2 Lit and they will lie down
- Isaiah 17:3 Or fortification
- Isaiah 17:3 Or royal power
- Isaiah 17:4 Lit become little
- Isaiah 17:5 Lit gathering of the harvest, the standing grain
- Isaiah 17:6 Lit striking
- Isaiah 17:8 I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)
- Isaiah 17:9 Lit his; i.e., mankind’s
- Isaiah 17:9 LXX the deserted places of the Amorites and the Hivites which they abandoned
- Isaiah 17:9 Lit it
- Isaiah 17:14 Lit portion
- Isaiah 18:1 Or Ethiopia
- Isaiah 18:2 Lit drawn out
- Isaiah 18:2 Lit from it and beyond
- Isaiah 18:4 Lit in
- Isaiah 18:4 Lit light
- Isaiah 18:5 Lit is finished
- Isaiah 18:7 Some ancient versions and DSS; MT implies Consisting of a people
- Isaiah 18:7 Lit drawn out
- Isaiah 18:7 Lit from it and beyond
Isaiah 16-18
New King James Version
Isaiah 16-18
New King James Version
Moab Destroyed
16 Send (A)the lamb to the ruler of the land,
(B)From [a]Sela to the wilderness,
To the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 For it shall be as a (C)wandering bird thrown out of the nest;
So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the (D)Arnon.
3 “Take counsel, execute judgment;
Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day;
Hide the outcasts,
Do not betray him who escapes.
4 Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab;
Be a shelter to them from the face of the [b]spoiler.
For the extortioner is at an end,
Devastation ceases,
The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5 In mercy (E)the throne will be established;
And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David,
(F)Judging and seeking justice and hastening (G)righteousness.”
6 We have heard of the (H)pride of Moab—
He is very proud—
Of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath;
(I)But his [c]lies shall not be so.
7 Therefore Moab shall (J)wail for Moab;
Everyone shall wail.
For the foundations (K)of Kir Hareseth you shall mourn;
Surely they are stricken.
8 For (L)the fields of Heshbon languish,
And (M)the vine of Sibmah;
The lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants,
Which have reached to Jazer
And wandered through the wilderness.
Her branches are stretched out,
They are gone over the (N)sea.
9 Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah,
With the weeping of Jazer;
I will drench you with my tears,
(O)O Heshbon and Elealeh;
For [d]battle cries have fallen
Over your summer fruits and your harvest.
10 (P)Gladness is taken away,
And joy from the plentiful field;
In the vineyards there will be no singing,
Nor will there be shouting;
No treaders will tread out wine in the presses;
I have made their shouting cease.
11 Therefore (Q)my [e]heart shall resound like a harp for Moab,
And my inner being for [f]Kir Heres.
12 And it shall come to pass,
When it is seen that Moab is weary on (R)the high place,
That he will come to his sanctuary to pray;
But he will not prevail.
13 This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning Moab since that time. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “Within three years, (S)as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble.”
Proclamation Against Syria and Israel
17 The (T)burden[g] against Damascus.
“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city,
And it will be a ruinous heap.
2 [h]The cities of (U)Aroer are forsaken;
They will be for flocks
Which lie down, and (V)no one will make them afraid.
3 (W)The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,
The kingdom from Damascus,
And the remnant of Syria;
They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
4 “In that day it shall come to pass
That the glory of Jacob will [i]wane,
And (X)the fatness of his flesh grow lean.
5 (Y)It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain,
And reaps the heads with his arm;
It shall be as he who gathers heads of grain
In the Valley of Rephaim.
6 (Z)Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it,
Like the shaking of an olive tree,
Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough,
Four or five in its most fruitful branches,”
Says the Lord God of Israel.
7 In that day a man will (AA)look to his Maker,
And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
8 He will not look to the altars,
The work of his hands;
He will not respect what his (AB)fingers have made,
Nor the [j]wooden images nor the incense altars.
9 In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken [k]bough
And [l]an uppermost branch,
Which they left because of the children of Israel;
And there will be desolation.
10 Because you have forgotten (AC)the God of your salvation,
And have not been mindful of the Rock of your [m]stronghold,
Therefore you will plant pleasant plants
And set out foreign seedlings;
11 In the day you will make your plant to grow,
And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish;
But the harvest will be a heap of ruins
In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people
Who make a noise (AD)like the roar of the seas,
And to the rushing of nations
That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters;
But God will (AE)rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And (AF)be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,
Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 Then behold, at eventide, trouble!
And before the morning, he is no more.
This is the portion of those who plunder us,
And the lot of those who rob us.
Proclamation Against Ethiopia
18 Woe (AG)to the land shadowed with buzzing wings,
Which is beyond the rivers of [n]Ethiopia,
2 Which sends ambassadors by sea,
Even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying,
“Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin,
To a people terrible from their beginning onward,
A nation powerful and treading down,
Whose land the rivers divide.”
3 All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth:
(AH)When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it;
And when he blows a trumpet, you hear it.
4 For so the Lord said to me,
“I will take My rest,
And I will [o]look from My dwelling place
Like clear heat in sunshine,
Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect
And the sour grape is ripening in the flower,
He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks
And take away and cut down the branches.
6 They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey
And for the beasts of the earth;
The birds of prey will summer on them,
And all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.
7 In that time (AI)a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts
[p]From a people tall and smooth of skin,
And from a people terrible from their beginning onward,
A nation powerful and treading down,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts,
To Mount Zion.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 16:1 Lit. Rock
- Isaiah 16:4 devastator
- Isaiah 16:6 Lit. vain talk
- Isaiah 16:9 Or shouting has
- Isaiah 16:11 Lit. belly
- Isaiah 16:11 Kir Hareseth, v. 7
- Isaiah 17:1 oracle, prophecy
- Isaiah 17:2 So with MT, Vg.; LXX It shall be forsaken forever; Tg. Its cities shall be forsaken and desolate
- Isaiah 17:4 fade
- Isaiah 17:8 Heb. Asherim, Canaanite deities
- Isaiah 17:9 LXX Hivites; Tg. laid waste; Vg. as the plows
- Isaiah 17:9 LXX Amorites; Tg. in ruins; Vg. corn
- Isaiah 17:10 refuge
- Isaiah 18:1 Heb. Cush
- Isaiah 18:4 watch
- Isaiah 18:7 So with DSS, LXX, Vg.; MT omits From; Tg. To
Isaiah 16-18
New International Version
Isaiah 16-18
New International Version
16 Send lambs(A) as tribute(B)
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela,(C) across the desert,
to the mount of Daughter Zion.(D)
2 Like fluttering birds
pushed from the nest,(E)
so are the women of Moab(F)
at the fords(G) of the Arnon.(H)
3 “Make up your mind,” Moab says.
“Render a decision.
Make your shadow like night—
at high noon.
Hide the fugitives,(I)
do not betray the refugees.
4 Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;
be their shelter(J) from the destroyer.”
The oppressor(K) will come to an end,
and destruction will cease;(L)
the aggressor will vanish from the land.
5 In love a throne(M) will be established;(N)
in faithfulness a man will sit on it—
one from the house[a] of David(O)—
one who in judging seeks justice(P)
and speeds the cause of righteousness.
6 We have heard of Moab’s(Q) pride(R)—
how great is her arrogance!—
of her conceit, her pride and her insolence;
but her boasts are empty.
7 Therefore the Moabites wail,(S)
they wail together for Moab.
Lament and grieve
for the raisin cakes(T) of Kir Hareseth.(U)
8 The fields of Heshbon(V) wither,(W)
the vines of Sibmah(X) also.
The rulers of the nations
have trampled down the choicest vines,(Y)
which once reached Jazer(Z)
and spread toward the desert.
Their shoots spread out(AA)
and went as far as the sea.[b](AB)
9 So I weep,(AC) as Jazer weeps,
for the vines of Sibmah.
Heshbon and Elealeh,(AD)
I drench you with tears!(AE)
The shouts of joy(AF) over your ripened fruit
and over your harvests(AG) have been stilled.
10 Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards;(AH)
no one sings or shouts(AI) in the vineyards;
no one treads(AJ) out wine at the presses,(AK)
for I have put an end to the shouting.
11 My heart laments for Moab(AL) like a harp,(AM)
my inmost being(AN) for Kir Hareseth.
12 When Moab appears at her high place,(AO)
she only wears herself out;
when she goes to her shrine(AP) to pray,
it is to no avail.(AQ)
13 This is the word the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab. 14 But now the Lord says: “Within three years,(AR) as a servant bound by contract(AS) would count them,(AT) Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised,(AU) and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”(AV)
A Prophecy Against Damascus
17 A prophecy(AW) against Damascus:(AX)
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins.(AY)
2 The cities of Aroer(AZ) will be deserted
and left to flocks,(BA) which will lie down,(BB)
with no one to make them afraid.(BC)
3 The fortified(BD) city will disappear from Ephraim,
and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory(BE) of the Israelites,”(BF)
declares the Lord Almighty.
4 “In that day(BG) the glory(BH) of Jacob will fade;
the fat of his body will waste(BI) away.
5 It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
gathering(BJ) the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain(BK)
in the Valley of Rephaim.(BL)
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,(BM)
as when an olive tree is beaten,(BN)
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 In that day(BO) people will look(BP) to their Maker(BQ)
and turn their eyes to the Holy One(BR) of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,(BS)
the work of their hands,(BT)
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles[c](BU)
and the incense altars their fingers(BV) have made.
9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth.(BW) And all will be desolation.
10 You have forgotten(BX) God your Savior;(BY)
you have not remembered the Rock,(BZ) your fortress.(CA)
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
and plant imported vines,(CB)
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
and on the morning(CC) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest(CD) will be as nothing(CE)
in the day of disease and incurable(CF) pain.(CG)
12 Woe to the many nations that rage(CH)—
they rage like the raging sea!(CI)
Woe to the peoples who roar(CJ)—
they roar like the roaring of great waters!(CK)
13 Although the peoples roar(CL) like the roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes(CM) them they flee(CN) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff(CO) on the hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale.(CP)
14 In the evening, sudden(CQ) terror!(CR)
Before the morning, they are gone!(CS)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
A Prophecy Against Cush
18 Woe(CT) to the land of whirring wings[d]
along the rivers of Cush,[e](CU)
2 which sends envoys(CV) by sea
in papyrus(CW) boats over the water.
Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,(CX)
to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive(CY) nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers.(CZ)
3 All you people of the world,(DA)
you who live on the earth,
when a banner(DB) is raised on the mountains,
you will see it,
and when a trumpet(DC) sounds,
you will hear it.
4 This is what the Lord says to me:
“I will remain quiet(DD) and will look on from my dwelling place,(DE)
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,(DF)
like a cloud of dew(DG) in the heat of harvest.”
5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off(DH) the shoots with pruning knives,
and cut down and take away the spreading branches.(DI)
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey(DJ)
and to the wild animals;(DK)
the birds will feed on them all summer,
the wild animals all winter.
7 At that time gifts(DL) will be brought to the Lord Almighty
from a people tall and smooth-skinned,(DM)
from a people feared(DN) far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers(DO)—
the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.(DP)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 16:5 Hebrew tent
- Isaiah 16:8 Probably the Dead Sea
- Isaiah 17:8 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
- Isaiah 18:1 Or of locusts
- Isaiah 18:1 That is, the upper Nile region
New American Standard Bible (NASB) 
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.