Isaiah 16 - Easy To Read Version

¹ You people should send a gift to the king of the land. You should send a lamb from Sela, through the desert, to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion. {\cf2\super [165]}

² The women of Moab {\cf2\super [166]} try to cross\par the river Arnon.\par They run from one place to another\par looking for help.\par They are like little birds lost on the ground\par after their nest has fallen from a tree.\par

³ They say,\par “Help us! Tell us what to do!\par Protect us \{from our enemies\}\par like shade protects us from the noon sun.\par We are running from our enemies.\par Hide us! Don’t give us to our enemies.”\par

⁴ Those people from Moab were forced\par to leave their homes.\par So let them live in your land.\par Hide them \{from their enemies\}.\par The looting will stop.\par The enemy will be defeated.\par The men that hurt other people\par will be gone from the land.\par

⁵ Then a new king will come.\par This king will be from David’s family. {\cf2\super [167]} \par He will be loyal.\par He will be loving and kind.\par This king will judge fairly.\par He will do things that are right and good.\par

⁶ We have heard that the people of Moab {\cf2\super [168]} are very proud and conceited. These people are violent and they boast. But the boasts are only empty words.\par

⁷ \{The whole country of Moab will suffer because of that pride.\} All the people of Moab will cry. The people will be sad—they will want the things they had in the past. They will want the fig-cakes made in Kir Hareseth. {\cf2\super [169]}

⁸ \{The people will be sad\} because the fields of Heshbon and the vines of Sibmah are not able to grow grapes. Foreign rulers have cut down the grapevines. The \{enemy armies have\} spread far to the city of Jazer and into the desert. And they have spread down to the sea. {\cf2\super [170]} \par

⁹ “I will cry with the peopleof Jazer and Sibmah\par because the grapes have been destroyed.\par I will cry with the people\par of Heshbon and Elealeh\par because there will be no harvest.\par There will be no summer fruit.\par And there will be no shouts of joy.\par

¹⁰ There will be no joy and singing in Carmel. {\cf2\super [171]} \par I will end the happiness at harvest time.\par The grapes are ready to become wine.\par But they will all be wasted.\par

¹¹ So, I am very sad for Moab.\par I am very sad for Kir Heres. {\cf2\super [172]} \par I am very, very sad for these cities.\par

¹² The people of Moab will go to their\par places of worship. {\cf2\super [173]} \par The people will try to pray.\par But they will see what happened,\par and they will be too weak to pray.”\par

¹³ The Lord said these things about Moab many times.

¹⁴ And now the Lord says, “In three years (the way a hired helper counts time) all those people and the things they are proud of will be gone. There will be a few people left, but there will not be many.”