Isaiah 16–18; Psalm 146

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Isaiah 16–18

tSend the lamb to the ruler of the land,

from uSela, by way of the desert,

to the mount of the daughter of Zion.

Like fleeing birds,

like a scattered nest,

so are the daughters of Moab

at vthe fords of the Arnon.

Give counsel;

grant justice;

wmake your shade like night

at the height of noon;

shelter the outcasts;

do not reveal the fugitive;

let xthe outcasts of Moab

sojourn among you;

be a shelter to them1

from the destroyer.

When the oppressor is no more,

and destruction has ceased,

and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,

ythen a throne will be established in steadfast love,

and on it will sit in faithfulness

in the tent of David

one who judges and seeks justice

and is swift to do righteousness.

zWe have heard of the pride of Moab

how proud he is!

aof his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;

in his idle boasting he is not right.

Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,

blet everyone wail.

Mourn, utterly stricken,

for the craisin cakes of dKir-hareseth.

For the fields of Heshbon languish,

and ethe vine of Sibmah;

the lords of the nations

have struck down its branches,

which reached to Jazer

and strayed to the desert;

its shoots spread abroad

and passed over the sea.

Therefore fI weep with ethe weeping of Jazer

for the vine of Sibmah;

I drench you with my tears,

O Heshbon and Elealeh;

for over gyour summer fruit and your harvest

the shout has ceased.

10  hAnd joy and gladness are taken away from ithe fruitful field,

and in the vineyards no jsongs are sung,

no cheers are raised;

no ktreader treads out wine lin the presses;

I have put an end to the shouting.

11  Therefore mmy inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,

and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

12 And when Moab presents himself, when nhe wearies himself on othe high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.

13 This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab pin the past. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, In three years, qlike the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be rvery few and feeble.

An Oracle Concerning Damascus

An soracle concerning tDamascus.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city

and will become a heap of ruins.

The cities of uAroer are deserted;

they will be for flocks,

which will lie down, and vnone will make them afraid.

The fortress will disappear from wEphraim,

and the kingdom from wDamascus;

and the remnant of Syria will be

like xthe glory of the children of Israel,

declares the Lord of hosts.

And in that day xthe glory of Jacob will be brought low,

and ythe fat of his flesh will grow lean.

And it shall be zas when the reaper gathers standing grain

and his arm harvests the ears,

and as when one gleans the ears of grain

in athe Valley of Rephaim.

bGleanings will be left in it,

as when an olive tree is beaten

two or three berries

in the top of the highest bough,

four or five

on the branches of a fruit tree,

declares the Lord God of Israel.

cIn that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. dHe will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the eAsherim or the altars of incense.

fIn that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.

10  For gyou have forgotten the God of your salvation

and have not remembered the hRock of your refuge;

therefore, though you plant pleasant plants

and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,

11  though you make them grow2 on the day that you plant them,

and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,

yet the harvest will flee away3

in a day of grief and incurable pain.

12  Ah, ithe thunder of many peoples;

they thunder like the thundering of the sea!

Ah, the roar of nations;

they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!

13  jThe nations roar like the roaring of many waters,

kbut he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,

chased llike chaff on the mountains before the wind

and mwhirling dust before the storm.

14  nAt evening time, behold, terror!

Before morning, they are no more!

This is the portion of those who loot us,

and the lot of those who plunder us.

An Oracle Concerning Cush

Ah, land of owhirring wings

that is beyond the rivers of pCush,4

which qsends ambassadors by the sea,

in vessels of papyrus on the waters!

Go, you swift messengers,

to a nation rtall and smooth,

to a people feared near and far,

a nation smighty and conquering,

whose land the rivers divide.

All you inhabitants of the world,

you who dwell on the earth,

when ta signal is raised on the mountains, look!

When a trumpet is blown, hear!

For thus the Lord said to me:

I will quietly look ufrom my dwelling

like clear heat in sunshine,

like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

vFor before the harvest, when the blossom is over,

and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,

and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.

vThey shall all of them be left

to the birds of prey of the mountains

and to the beasts of the earth.

And the birds of prey will summer on them,

and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.

wAt that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of hosts

from a people xtall and smooth,

from a people feared near and far,

a nation mighty and conquering,

whose land the rivers divide,

to yMount Zion, the place of the zname of the Lord of hosts.


Psalm 146

Put Not Your Trust in Princes

nPraise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

I will praise the Lord oas long as I live;

pI will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

qPut not your trust in princes,

rin a son of man, in whom there is sno salvation.

When this breath departs, he returns to the earth;

on that very day his plans perish.

uBlessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose vhope is in the Lord his God,

wwho made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them,

xwho keeps faith forever;

ywho executes justice for the oppressed,

zwho gives food to the hungry.

aThe Lord sets the prisoners free;

bthe Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

cThe Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

dthe Lord loves the righteous.

eThe Lord watches over the sojourners;

fhe upholds the widow and the fatherless,

but gthe way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10  hThe Lord will reign forever,

your God, O Zion, to all generations.

nPraise the Lord!