Isaiah 15-16

New Catholic Bible

Having been laid waste in a single night,
    Ar of Moab is destroyed.
Having been laid waste in a single night,
    Kir of Moab is destroyed.
² The daughter of Dibon goes up
    to the high places to weep.
Moab wails unceasingly
    over Nebo and Medeba.
Every head has been shaved,
    every beard has been cut off.
³ In the streets they wear sackcloth;
    on the roofs and in the public squares
    everyone wails and collapses in tears.
⁴ Hesbon and Elealeh cry out in distress;
    their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.
As a result, the bravest of Moab’s warriors cry out
    and their hearts grow faint.
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab;
    her fugitives have arrived close to Zoar,
    at Eglath-shelishiyah.
They climb the slope of Luhith,
    weeping as they make their ascent;
on the road to Horonaim
    they emit heart-rending cries.
⁶ The waters of Nimrim
    have become a desolate waste.
The grass is parched,
    the plants have withered away,
    and nothing green can be seen.
⁷ Therefore, the people carry away
    across the Ravine of the Willows
whatever possessions they can manage
    and the savings they have accumulated.
⁸ Their cry of distress has echoed
    around the land of Moab.
Their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim;
    it can be heard even to the land of Beer-elim.
⁹ The waters of Dimon are filled with blood,
    but I have far worse in store for Dimon:
a lion for those who are fleeing from Moab,
    as well as for those who are left on its soil.

^1 [c]Send forth lambs to the ruler of the land,
    from Sela across the desert
    to the mount of daughter Zion.
² Like fluttering birds,
    like scattered nestlings,
are the women of Moab
    at the fords of the Arnon.
³ Offer your counsel,
    grant us your justice.
At high noon
    let your shadow be like night.
Hide those who are outcasts
    and do not betray the fugitives.
⁴ Allow the outcasts of Moab
    to settle among you,
    and be their refuge from the destroyer.
When the oppression has ceased
    and the devastation is at an end,
and the marauders who have trampled the land
    have finally departed,
⁵ a throne established in faithful love
    will be established in the tent of David,
and on it will sit in fidelity
    a judge who offers fair judgment
    and is prompt to ensure justice.
⁶ We have heard about the pride of Moab,
    about how truly intense that pride is,
with its arrogance, its pride, and its insolence,
    as well as its boasts which have little basis.
⁷ Therefore, let Moab wail,
    every one of its inhabitants.
In their grief they will long
    for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
⁸ The vineyards of Heshbon have withered,
    the vines of Sibmah.
The lords of the nations
    have destroyed the choicest vines
that once reached as far as Jazer
    and spread out toward the desert,
and whose shoots with their spreading branches
    spread across the sea.
⁹ Therefore, I weep with Jazer
    for the vines of Sibmah.
I drench you with tears,
    Heshbon and Elealeh,
for the cries of battle have fallen
    over your harvest and vintage.
¹⁰ Joy and gladness
    have been taken away from the fields.
In the vineyards no songs are sung,
    no joyful shouts are raised.
No one treads out wine in the wine-presses
    no cheers of happiness are heard.
¹¹ That is the reason why
    my heart throbs like a harp for Moab
    and my soul for Kir-hareseth.
¹² When the Moabites approach
    and exhaust themselves on the high places,
they will flock to their sanctuaries to pray,
    but it will avail them nothing.