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 stand 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; Provide 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 become established in lovingkindness, And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; Moreover, he will seek justice And show promptness 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 have proven 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 have become 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 have left the fruitful field; In the vineyards also there will rise 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 word 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 suffer degradation along with all his great population, and his remnant will seem very small and impotent."