¹Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land,

From Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

²Then, like fleeing birds or scattered nestlings,[#16:2 Or fluttering; #16:2 Lit nest]

The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.

³“Bring us counsel, make a decision;

Cast your shadow like night at high noon;

Hide those banished, do not reveal the one who flees.

⁴“Let the banished of Moab sojourn with you;[#16:4 As in the versions; M.T. My banished ones, as for Moab]

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.

⁵And a throne will be established in lovingkindness,

And a judge will sit on it in truth in the tent of David;

Moreover, he will seek justice

And be prompt in righteousness.

⁶¶We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;

Even of his lofty pride, pride, and fury;

His idle boasts are false.

⁷Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.

You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth

As those who are utterly stricken.

⁸For the fields of Heshbon have languished, 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.

⁹Therefore 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.

¹⁰Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful orchard;

In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or shouts of jubilation,

No treader treads out wine in the presses,

For I have made the shouting to cease.

¹¹Therefore my inner being moans like a harp for Moab[#16:11 Lit entrails murmur]

And my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth.

¹²So it will be when Moab appears,

When he wearies himself upon his high place

And comes to his sanctuary to pray,

That he will not prevail.

¹³This is the word which Yahweh spoke earlier concerning Moab.

¹⁴But now Yahweh speaks, saying, “Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be dishonored along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and not mighty.”[#16:14 Lit the years of a hireling]