16:1Send ye a lamb to the ruler of the land, From Selah in the wilderness, Unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

16:2And it hath come to pass, As a wandering bird, a nest cast out, Are daughters of Moab, at fords of Arnon.

16:3Bring ye in counsel, do judgment, Make as night thy shadow in the midst of noon, Hide outcasts, the wanderer reveal not.

16:4Sojourn in thee do My outcasts, O Moab, Be a secret hiding-place to them, From the face of a destroyer, For ceased hath the extortioner, Finished hath been a destroyer, Consumed the treaders down out of the land.

16:5And established in kindness is the throne, And one hath sat on it in truth, in the tent of David, Judging and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

16:6We have heard of the pride of Moab -- very proud, His pride, and his arrogance, and his wrath, Not right are his devices.

16:7Therefore howl doth Moab for Moab, all of it doth howl, For the grape-cakes of Kir-Hareseth it meditateth, Surely they are smitten.

16:8Because fields of Heshbon languish, The vine of Sibmah, Lords of nations did beat her choice vines, Unto Jazer they have come, They have wandered in a wilderness, Her plants have spread themselves, They have passed over a sea.

16:9Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer, The vine of Sibmah, I water thee with my tear, O Heshbon and Elealeh, For -- for thy summer fruits, and for thy harvest, The shouting hath fallen.

16:10And removed have been gladness and joy from the fruitful field, And in vineyards they sing not, nor shout, Wine in the presses treadeth not the treader, Shouting I have caused to cease.

16:11Therefore my bowels for Moab as a harp do sound, And mine inward parts for Kir-Haresh.

16:12And it hath come to pass, when it hath been seen, That weary hath been Moab on the high place, And he hath come unto his sanctuary to pray, And is not able.

16:13This is the word that Jehovah hath spoken unto Moab from that time,

16:14And now hath Jehovah spoken, saying, `In three years, as years of an hireling, Lightly esteemed is the honour of Moab, With all the great multitude, And the remnant is little, small, not mighty!'

17:1The burden of Damascus. Lo, Damascus is taken away from being a city, And it hath been a heap -- a ruin.

17:2Forsaken are the cities of Aroer, For droves they are, and they have lain down, And there is none troubling.

17:3And ceased hath the fortress from Ephraim, And the kingdom from Damascus, And the remnant of Aram are as the honour of the sons of Israel, The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts!

17:4And it hath come to pass, in that day, Wax poor doth the honour of Jacob, And the fatness of his flesh doth wax lean.

17:5And it hath come to pass, As the gathering by the reaper of the standing corn, And his arm the ears reapeth, And it hath come to pass, As the gathering of the ears in the valley of Rephaim,

17:6And left in him have been gleanings, As the compassing of an olive, Two -- three berries on the top of a branch, Four -- five on the fruitful boughs, The affirmation of Jehovah, God of Israel!

17:7In that day doth man look to His Maker, Yea, his eyes to the Holy One of Israel look,

17:8And he looketh not unto the altars. The work of his own hands, And that which his own fingers made He seeth not -- the shrines and the images.

17:9In that day are the cities of his strength As the forsaken thing of the forest, And the branch that they have left, Because of the sons of Israel, It also hath been a desolation.

17:10Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, And the rock of thy strength hast not remembered, Therefore thou plantest plants of pleasantness, And with a strange slip sowest it,

17:11In the day thy plant thou causest to become great, And in the morning thy seed makest to flourish, A heap is the harvest in a day of overflowing, And of mortal pain.

17:12Wo to the multitude of many peoples, As the sounding of seas they sound; And to the wasting of nations, As the wasting of mighty waters they are wasted.

17:13Nations as the wasting of many waters are wasted, And He hath pushed against it, And it hath fled afar off, And been pursued as chaff of hills before wind, And as a rolling thing before a hurricane.

17:14At even-time, lo, terror, before morning it is not, This is the portion of our spoilers, And the lot of our plunderers!

18:1Ho, land shadowed with wings, That is beyond the rivers of Cush,

18:2That is sending by sea ambassadors, Even with implements of reed on the face of the waters, -- Go, ye light messengers, Unto a nation drawn out and peeled, Unto a people fearful from its beginning and onwards, A nation meeting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled.

18:3All ye inhabitants of the world, And ye dwellers of earth, At the lifting up of an ensign on hills ye look, And at the blowing of a trumpet ye hear.

18:4For thus said Jehovah unto me, `I rest, and I look on My settled place, As a clear heat on an herb. As a thick cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

18:5For before harvest, when the flower is perfect, And the blossom is producing unripe fruit, Then hath one cut the sprigs with pruning hooks, And the branches he hath turned aside, cut down.

18:6They are left together to the ravenous fowl of the mountains, And to the beast of the earth, And summered on them hath the ravenous fowl, And every beast of the earth wintereth on them.

18:7At that time brought is a present to Jehovah of Hosts, A nation drawn out and peeled. Even of a people fearful from the beginning hitherto, A nation meting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled, Unto the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts -- mount Zion!'