Isaiah 16:1-14
The Moab oracle closes with a signed timestamp: 'Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned' — a dated, short-range prediction appended to the longer lament, with a messianic gleam at its center: the throne established 'in mercy... in the tabernacle of David' (16:5).
Read the whole passage — all 14 verses (KJV)
16:1Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
16:2For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
16:3Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.
16:4Let 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.
16:5And 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.
16:6We 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.
16:7Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.
16:8For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
16:9Therefore 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.
16:10And 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.
16:11Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.
16:12And 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.
16:13This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.
16:14But 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 shall be very small and feeble.
Fulfillment References
Isaiah 16:13-14 Amos 9:11 Acts 15:16
Archaeological & Historical Evidence
Assyrian records show Moab reduced to tribute-paying vassalage under Sargon II and Sennacherib — Moabite kings Kammusu-nadbi and Musuri appear in Assyrian tribute lists, the 'contemned glory' in the empire's own bookkeeping.
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Scholarship & Sources
Moabite tribute in Assyrian sources: Sargon II and Sennacherib annals (COS); on 16:5's Davidic hope see Kaiser (The Messiah in the Old Testament).
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