16:1  Send the {tribute} lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

16:2  Then, like fleeing birds {or} scattered nestlings, The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.

16:3  "Give {us} advice, make a decision; Cast your shadow like night at high noon; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.

16:4  "Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you; Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer. For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased, Oppressors have completely {disappeared} from the land."

16:5  A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; Moreover, he will seek justice And be prompt in righteousness.

16:6  We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride; {Even} of his arrogance, pride, and fury; His idle boasts are false.

16:7  Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail. You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth As those who are utterly stricken.

16:8  For the fields of Heshbon have withered, the vines of 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; Its tendrils spread themselves out {and} passed over the sea.

16:9  Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah; I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.

16:10  Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field; In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting, No treader treads out wine in the presses, {For} I have made the shouting to cease.

16:11  Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab And my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth.

16:12  So it will come about when Moab presents himself, When he wearies himself upon {his} high place And comes to his sanctuary to pray, That he will not prevail.

16:13  This is the word which the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab.

16:14  But now the LORD speaks, saying, "Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all {his} great population, and {his} remnant will be very small {and} impotent."