Bible Study Isaiah 16
‹ Isaiah

Isaiah 16 · WEB

Moab's Appeal and Pride, and Its Judgment

Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.

Tap a verse to copy it, open the Hebrew, or write a note.

Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land, from Selah, by way of the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2For it will be that as a wandering bird, as a scattered nest, so the daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.
3"Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the middle of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don't betray the fugitive!
4Let my outcasts dwell with you! As for Moab, be a hiding place for him from the face of the destroyer." For the extortion has come to an end. Destruction ceases. The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.
6We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing.
7Therefore Moab will wail for Moab. Everyone will wail. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth, utterly stricken.
8For the fields of Heshbon languish with the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad. They passed over the sea.
9Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen.
10Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field. No singing, neither joyful noise will be in the vineyards. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the vintage shout cease.
11Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres.
12It will happen that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail.
13This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab in time past.
14But now Yahweh has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble."
✶

Summary

Isaiah 16 continues the oracle against Moab (modern Jordan), beginning with a call for Moab to send tribute to Jerusalem and seek refuge under Judah's protection from its enemies. The chapter identifies Moab's fatal flaw as pride (verse 6) and laments the destruction of its famous vineyards and fertile fields. Isaiah mourns deeply for Moab's suffering even as he pronounces its judgment, and the chapter closes with a precise prophetic timeline — within three years Moab's glory will be gone.

Themes

  • Pride as the root cause of Moab's downfall
  • The Messianic hope: a just king on David's throne
  • Prophetic compassion and lament for a condemned nation
  • The certainty and precision of divine judgment
  • The call to show hospitality and justice to refugees

Key verses

  • Isa 16:11 — “Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres.”
  • Isa 16:14 — “Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt.”
  • Isa 16:5 — “A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.”
  • Isa 16:6 — “We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath.”

Context & background

The oracle of Isaiah 15–16 together form a unified poem about Moab, a nation located east of the Dead Sea in modern Jordan. The tribute lamb mentioned in verse 1 alludes to Moab's historical obligation to pay tribute to Israel (2 Kings 3:4). Selah was a Moabite city, possibly identified with Petra, in the rocky highland terrain of modern Jordan. The famous vineyards of Sibmah and Heshbon (modern Hesban, Jordan) were renowned throughout the region. The Messianic insertion in verse 5 — the promise of a just king on David's throne — stands in stark contrast to Moab's arrogant, unstable kings and their inability to save themselves through prayer at their pagan high places (verse 12).

Cross-references

  • 2 Kings 3:4-5 — Mesha of Moab, who paid tribute of 100,000 lambs annually to Israel
  • Isa 15:1-9 — The preceding companion lament over Moab
  • Isa 9:6-7 — The promise of a just king on David's throne, parallel to Isa 16:5
  • Jer 48:29-31 — Jeremiah echoes Isaiah's description of Moab's pride word-for-word
  • Ruth 1:16-17 — Ruth the Moabitess seeks refuge with Israel, the reversal of what Moab refuses here

Check your reading

Log in to take the quiz and save your progress.

  1. Observe

    According to verse 6, what specific character flaws lie at the heart of Moab's downfall?

  2. Observe

    What specific timeframe does Yahweh attach to Moab's coming humiliation in verse 14?

  3. Interpret

    Why does Isaiah insert a Messianic promise about a just king on David's throne (v. 5) into a lament over Moab?

  4. Interpret

    What does Isaiah's weeping for Moab's vineyards and harvests (vv. 9-11) reveal about how God's messengers relate to judgment?

  5. Apply

    Where might pride be blocking one from receiving help or making needed changes (cf. v. 12)?

  6. Apply

    How can one practically offer refuge to outcasts and fugitives (vv. 3-4) in today's context?

Your journal

Write your own answers — they save automatically, and only you can see them.

Log in to write and save journal answers.

Apply (How does it apply to me?)

Personal notes (anything else about this chapter)