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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Isaiah 16 Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/isaiah/161.htm" /><link href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cardo&subset=greek-ext' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/isaiah/16.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/isaiah/16-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Cambridge</a> > <a href="../isaiah/">Isaiah</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../isaiah/15.htm" title="Isaiah 15">◄</a> Isaiah 16 <a href="../isaiah/17.htm" title="Isaiah 17">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-1.htm">Isaiah 16:1</a></div><div class="verse">Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.</div><span class="bld">1</span>. <span class="ital">Send ye the lamb</span>] R.V. <span class="bld">the lambs</span>. The imper. expresses dramatically the result of the deliberations of the Moabites. The word “lamb” is to be taken collectively; it denotes the tribute in kind which the Moabites had been accustomed to pay to the kings of Israel (<a href="/2_kings/3-4.htm" title="And Mesha king of Moab was a sheep master, and rendered to the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool.">2 Kings 3:4</a>), but which they now propose to send to the king of Judah, the “ruler of the land” (of Edom).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">from Sela to the wilderness</span>] R.V. less appropriately “which is toward the wilderness.” The wilderness is the desert tract between Sela and Jerusalem which would have to be traversed by the messengers of Moab. <span class="ital">Sela</span> (“rock”), a city of Edom (<a href="/2_kings/14-7.htm" title="He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel to this day.">2 Kings 14:7</a>), is commonly supposed from the identity of the designations to be the later Petra. There is, however, no positive evidence in support of the identification; and <a href="/judges/1-36.htm" title="And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.">Jdg 1:36</a> seems to point to a locality near the southern end of the Dead Sea (See Moore, <span class="ital">Commentary on Judges</span>, pp. 56 f.).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the mount … Zion</span>] ch. <a href="/isaiah/10-32.htm" title="As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.">Isaiah 10:32</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">1–6</span>. Arrived in Edom, the Moabitish refugees are within the sphere of Judah’s political influence (see Introd. Note). Their first anxiety, therefore, is to secure protection and the right of asylum by sending an embassy to Jerusalem.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-2.htm">Isaiah 16:2</a></div><div class="verse">For it shall be, <i>that</i>, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, <i>so</i> the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.</div><span class="bld">2</span>. The verse gives no good sense in its present position. Not only does it obscure the connexion between <span class="ital"><a href="/isaiah/16-1.htm" title="Send you the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.">Isaiah 16:1</a></span> and <span class="ital"><a href="/isaiah/16-3.htm" title="Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow as the night in the middle of the noonday; hide the outcasts; denude not him that wanders.">Isaiah 16:3</a></span>, but its language of prediction reveals an affinity with <a href="/isaiah/15-9.htm" title="For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more on Dimon, lions on him that escapes of Moab, and on the remnant of the land.">Isaiah 15:9</a>. It has probably been misplaced (so Duhm), and the fact that the Moabites are represented as at “the fords of Arnon,” instead of in Edom, confirms the impression that we have here an addition to the original prophecy. The images of the <span class="bld">wandering birds</span> and the <span class="bld">scattered nest</span> (render as in R.V.) remind us of Isaiah (ch. <a href="/isaiah/10-14.htm" title="And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathers eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.">Isaiah 10:14</a>, <a href="/isaiah/31-5.htm" title="As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.">Isaiah 31:5</a>). The <span class="ital">daughters of Moab</span> are the provincial towns of Moab, or their inhabitants (cf. <a href="/psalms/48-11.htm" title="Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of your judgments.">Psalm 48:11</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-3.htm">Isaiah 16:3</a></div><div class="verse">Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.</div><span class="bld">3</span>. <span class="ital">Take counsel, execute judgment</span>] Or, <span class="bld">apply counsel, perform arbitration</span>; i.e. “adopt wise and effectual measures to defend us from our enemies.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">make thy shadow as the night …</span>] Be to us as “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (ch. <a href="/isaiah/32-2.htm" title="And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.">Isaiah 32:2</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">bewray not</span>] lit. “uncover not.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">3–5</span>. The address of Moab, through its ambassadors, to the court of Judah. Most of the older commentators took a different view of these verses, holding that here the prophet points out to the Moabites the way of national salvation through the practice of righteousness, and exhorts them in particular to shew kindness to any Israelitish refugees who might seek a home in that country. This interpretation appears to be followed by the A.V. (see on <span class="ital"><a href="/isaiah/16-4.htm" title="Let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be you a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortionist is at an end, the spoiler ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.">Isaiah 16:4</a></span>). But such an exhortation is altogether out of keeping with the tone of the prophecy, and would be very ill-timed in the circumstances to which Moab was then reduced. The continuity of thought is far better maintained on the view given above, which is that of most recent scholars.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-4.htm">Isaiah 16:4</a></div><div class="verse">Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.</div><span class="bld">4</span>. <span class="ital">Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">Let the outcasts of Moab sojourn with thee</span> (as protected guests). This implies a slight change of the vowel points, but has the authority of the chief ancient versions in its favour. The A.V. is a correct translation of the text as pointed, and far preferable to that of R.V., which joins the word Moab to the next clause, a construction unnatural in the extreme, although suggested by the Heb. accents. The vocative use of “Moab” in A.V., and probably also in the Massoretic text, implies that <span class="ital"><a href="/context/isaiah/16-3.htm" title="Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow as the night in the middle of the noonday; hide the outcasts; denude not him that wanders....">Isaiah 16:3-5</a></span> are conceived as an address to the Moabites.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">for the extortioner is at an end …</span>] The rest of the verse cannot, in this form, be uttered by the Moabites. We may either suppose with Dillmann that a word meaning “until” has been lost, or (better) with Hitzig take the clauses as protasis to <span class="ital"><a href="/isaiah/16-5.htm" title="And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit on it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hastening righteousness.">Isaiah 16:5</a></span>, “for <span class="ital">when</span> the extortioner, &c.” This is perhaps preferable to regarding it as a reflection of the prophet himself.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the spoiler</span>] Strictly <span class="bld">spoiling</span> (R.V.).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-5.htm">Isaiah 16:5</a></div><div class="verse">And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.</div><span class="bld">5</span>. <span class="ital">And in mercy</span>] If we follow Hitzig’s view of <span class="ital"><a href="/isaiah/16-4.htm" title="Let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be you a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortionist is at an end, the spoiler ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.">Isaiah 16:4</a></span> this would be rendered “then in mercy.” The phraseology of the verse is Messianic (see esp. ch. <a href="/isaiah/9-6.htm" title="For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.">Isaiah 9:6</a>) but not exclusively so (cf. <a href="/proverbs/8-28.htm" title="When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:">Proverbs 8:28</a>). In the lips of the Moabites the language is that of extravagant and (as <span class="ital"><a href="/isaiah/16-6.htm" title="We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.">Isaiah 16:6</a></span> appears to intimate) insincere adulation. It implies an offer of perpetual submission on the part of the Moabites to the Davidic dynasty, and therefore the question whether the throne be that of Judah or that of Moab is immaterial.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">and he shall sit … judging</span>] Better: <span class="bld">and there shall sit upon it in faithfulness in the tabernacle of David</span> (cf. <a href="/amos/9-11.htm" title="In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:">Amos 9:11</a>) <span class="bld">one who judgeth</span>, &c.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">hasting righteousness</span>] i.e. as R.V. has it, <span class="bld">swift to do righteousness</span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-6.htm">Isaiah 16:6</a></div><div class="verse">We have heard of the pride of Moab; <i>he is</i> very proud: <i>even</i> of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: <i>but</i> his lies <i>shall</i> not <i>be</i> so.</div><span class="bld">6</span>. (<a href="/context/jeremiah/48-29.htm" title="We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart....">Jeremiah 48:29-30</a>.) The prayer is rejected. The writer, speaking in the name of his countrymen, exposes the hollowness of Moab’s professions of allegiance and submission, as altogether opposed to the arrogant spirit for which the nation was notorious. On the pride of Moab cf. (besides <a href="/jeremiah/48-29.htm" title="We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.">Jeremiah 48:29</a>) ch. <a href="/isaiah/25-11.htm" title="And he shall spread forth his hands in the middle of them, as he that swims spreads forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.">Isaiah 25:11</a>; <a href="/zephaniah/2-8.htm" title="I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.">Zephaniah 2:8</a>. The national spirit has found an enduring monument in the inscription of the Moabite Stone.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>but <span class="ital">his lies</span> shall <span class="ital">not</span> be <span class="ital">so</span>] Better: <span class="bld">the unreality of his pratings</span> (a contemptuous word, cf. ch. <a href="/isaiah/44-25.htm" title="That frustrates the tokens of the liars, and makes diviners mad; that turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;">Isaiah 44:25</a>). R.V. “his boastings are nought.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-7.htm">Isaiah 16:7</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; surely <i>they are</i> stricken.</div><span class="bld">7</span>. <span class="ital">the foundations</span>] R.V. renders rightly <span class="bld">raisin-cakes</span>. These cakes of compressed grapes are mentioned less as an article of commerce than as a delicacy used at religious feasts (cf. <a href="/hosea/3-1.htm" title="Then said the LORD to me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.">Hosea 3:1</a>, R.V.). The word never means “foundations.” The parallel passage in Jeremiah substitutes the tamer “men.” <span class="ital">Kir-hareseth</span> is the same as Kir-heres (<span class="ital"><a href="/isaiah/16-11.htm" title="Why my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kirharesh.">Isaiah 16:11</a></span>) and perhaps identical with Kir of Moab (<a href="/isaiah/15-1.htm" title="The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;">Isaiah 15:1</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">surely</span> they are <span class="ital">stricken</span>] Better, as R.V.: <span class="bld">utterly stricken</span> (apposition to “ye”).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">7, 8</span>. (Cf. <a href="/context/jeremiah/48-31.htm" title="Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; my heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres....">Jeremiah 48:31-32</a>.) Moab’s last hope being thus disappointed, the poet resumes his lament over the doomed people.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-8.htm">Isaiah 16:8</a></div><div class="verse">For the fields of Heshbon languish, <i>and</i> the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come <i>even</i> unto Jazer, they wandered <i>through</i> the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.</div><span class="bld">8</span>. <span class="ital">the fields</span>] means here as in <a href="/deuteronomy/32-32.htm" title="For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:">Deuteronomy 32:32</a> “vineyards.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the vine of Sibmah</span>] Sibmah, in the vicinity of Heshbon, must have been famous for a choice variety of vines, which are here described by a title resembling that used in ch. <a href="/isaiah/5-2.htm" title="And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the middle of it, and also made a wine press therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.">Isaiah 5:2</a> for the “choicest vine” of Jehovah’s vineyard.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the lords of the heathen … thereof</span>] Better: <span class="bld">whose choice grapes struck down</span> (i.e. intoxicated) <span class="bld">the lords of the nations</span>. For the figure see ch. <a href="/isaiah/28-1.htm" title="Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!">Isaiah 28:1</a>. The wine of Sibmah was found on the tables of princes far and near, and its potent effects were well known.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The remainder of the verse celebrates the extensive cultivation of this variety of the vine on the east of the Jordan. The writer is not thinking of anything so prosaic as the export trade in the wine of Sibmah; he represents the whole vine culture of the district under the image of a single vine, which <span class="bld">reached to Jazer</span> in the north, <span class="bld">strayed to the desert</span> on the east, and <span class="bld">passed to the (Dead) Sea</span> on the west.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-9.htm">Isaiah 16:9</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.</div><span class="bld">9</span>. (<a href="/jeremiah/48-32.htm" title="O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer: your plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen on your summer fruits and on your vintage.">Jeremiah 48:32</a>) <span class="ital">with the weeping of Jazer</span>] i.e. in sympathy with the weeping of J. <span class="ital">I will water thee</span>] lit. <span class="bld">drench thee</span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">for the shouting … fallen</span>] Render with R.V.: <span class="bld">for upon thy summer-fruits</span> (or rather “fruit-gathering”) <span class="bld">and upon thy harvest the battle shout is fallen</span>. The word for “shout” (<span class="ital">hêdâd</span>) is used both of the joyous shout of the wine-treaders (<a href="/jeremiah/25-30.htm" title="Therefore prophesy you against them all these words, and say to them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar on his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.">Jeremiah 25:30</a>) and of the wild war-cry of soldiers in a charge (<a href="/jeremiah/51-14.htm" title="The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against you.">Jeremiah 51:14</a>). It has the former sense in <span class="ital"><a href="/isaiah/16-10.htm" title="And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.">Isaiah 16:10</a></span>, but the latter here. “Harvest” is used for “vintage” (<span class="ital">qâçîr</span> for <span class="ital">bâçîr</span>) as in ch. <a href="/isaiah/18-5.htm" title="For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.">Isaiah 18:5</a> (see the note).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">9–11</span>. The poet gives vent to his sympathy for Moab. These verses are amongst the most beautiful in the poem.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-10.htm">Isaiah 16:10</a></div><div class="verse">And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in <i>their</i> presses; I have made <i>their vintage</i> shouting to cease.</div><span class="bld">10</span>. (<a href="/jeremiah/48-33.htm" title="And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab, and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.">Jeremiah 48:33</a>) <span class="ital">shouting</span> and <span class="ital">vintage shouting</span> are entirely different words; the first may be translated by <span class="bld">joyful noise</span> as in R.V.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the treaders shall tread out no wine</span>] i.e. there shall be none treading wine. In the last clause—“I have stilled”—the voice of Jehovah is again heard; some critics, however, read “is stilled.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-11.htm">Isaiah 16:11</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.</div><span class="bld">11</span>. (<a href="/jeremiah/48-36.htm" title="Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and my heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches that he has gotten are perished.">Jeremiah 48:36</a>) <span class="ital">my bowels shall sound like a harp</span>] omit “shall” with R.V. The poet’s emotion flows forth spontaneously in the strains of the elegy. The <span class="ital">bowels</span> are the seat of the more intense emotions (<a href="/job/30-27.htm" title="My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.">Job 30:27</a>), especially of compassion (<a href="/jeremiah/4-19.htm" title="My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.">Jeremiah 4:19</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/31-20.htm" title="Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy on him, said the LORD.">Jeremiah 31:20</a>; <a href="/songs/5-4.htm" title="My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.">Song of Solomon 5:4</a>). <span class="ital">Kir-haresh</span>] Kir-heres. See on <span class="ital"><a href="/isaiah/16-7.htm" title="Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall you mourn; surely they are stricken.">Isaiah 16:7</a></span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-12.htm">Isaiah 16:12</a></div><div class="verse">And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.</div><span class="bld">12</span>. The failure of Moab’s religious confidence. The verse reproduces the thought of <a href="/isaiah/15-2.htm" title="He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.">Isaiah 15:2</a>, at the beginning of the elegy. It reads thus: <span class="bld">and when Moab appears, when he wearies himself, upon the high place, and enters his sanctuary to pray, he shall prevail nothing</span>. Ewald however turns the verse into a promise of the conversion of Moab, by continuing the protasis to the end of the present text, and completing the sense as follows (guided by <a href="/jeremiah/48-13.htm" title="And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.">Jeremiah 48:13</a>): … “and prevails nothing, <span class="bld">then he shall be ashamed of Chemosh, and turn to Jehovah</span>.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-13.htm">Isaiah 16:13</a></div><div class="verse">This <i>is</i> the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.</div><span class="bld">13</span>. <span class="ital">since that time</span>] Render <span class="bld">aforetime</span>. The expression is used both of the recent past (as in <a href="/2_samuel/15-34.htm" title="But if you return to the city, and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant till now, so will I now also be your servant: then may you for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.">2 Samuel 15:34</a>) and of a remote or even immemorial past (as <a href="/proverbs/8-22.htm" title="The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.">Proverbs 8:22</a>; <a href="/psalms/93-2.htm" title="Your throne is established of old: you are from everlasting.">Psalm 93:2</a>). The sense here is indeterminate.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">13, 14</span>. The Epilogue. See Introductory Note.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/16-14.htm">Isaiah 16:14</a></div><div class="verse">But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant <i>shall be</i> very small <i>and</i> feeble.</div><span class="bld">14</span>. If ch. <a href="/isaiah/15-1.htm" title="The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;">Isaiah 15:1</a> to <a href="/isaiah/16-12.htm" title="And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.">Isaiah 16:12</a> describe real events, the verse shews that in the interval Moab had recovered some measure of its former prosperity.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">as the years of a hireling</span>] As the hireling serves for the stipulated time, but not a moment longer, so the judgment on Moab shall not be deferred beyond the space of three years (cf. ch. <a href="/isaiah/21-16.htm" title="For thus has the LORD said to me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:">Isaiah 21:16</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the glory of Moab</span> (<span class="ital"><a href="/isaiah/16-6.htm" title="We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.">Isaiah 16:6</a></span>) <span class="ital">shall be contemned</span>] or “contemptible.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the remnant … feeble</span>] lit. “the remnant shall be small, little (ch. <a href="/isaiah/10-25.htm" title="For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and my anger in their destruction.">Isaiah 10:25</a>, <a href="/isaiah/29-17.htm" title="Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?">Isaiah 29:17</a>—of time), not strong.” It is hazardous to assume that the “remnant” here is the nucleus of a regenerated Messianic community.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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