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Isaiah

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Chapter 16

1 Send rams as tribute to the ruler of the land,⁠ from Sela in the wilderness⁠ to the hill of Daughter Zion. 2 At the fords of the Arnon the Moabite women are like a bird that flies about when forced from its nest. 3 “Bring a plan, make a decision. Provide some shade in the middle of the day. Hide the fugitives! Do not betray the one who tries to escape.⁠ 4 Please let the Moabite fugitives live among you. Hide them from the destroyer!” Certainly the one who applies pressure will cease; the destroyer will come to an end; those who trample will disappear from the earth. 5 Then a trustworthy king will be established;⁠ he will rule in a reliable manner, this one from David’s family. He will be sure to make just decisions and will be experienced in executing justice. 6 We have heard about Moab’s pride—their great arrogance—their boasting, pride, and excess. But their boastful claims are empty. 7 So Moab wails over its demise—they all wail! Completely devastated, they moan about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth. 8 For the fields of Heshbon are dried up, as well as the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations trample all over its vines, which reach Jazer and spread to the wilderness; their shoots spread out and cross the sea. 9 So I weep along with Jazer over the vines of Sibmah. I will saturate you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for the conquering invaders shout triumphantly over your fruit and crops. 10 Joy and happiness disappear from the orchards, and in the vineyards no one rejoices or shouts; no one treads out juice in the wine vats—I have brought the joyful shouts to an end. 11 So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, my inner being sighs for Kir Hareseth. 12 When the Moabites plead with all their might at their high places and enter their temples to pray, their prayers will be ineffective.⁠ 13 This is the message the Lord previously announced about Moab. 14 Now the Lord makes this announcement: “Within exactly three years Moab’s splendor will disappear, along with all her many people; there will be only a few insignificant survivors left.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 16:1 and LXX Isaiah 16:1

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

The Hebrew version of Isaiah 16 tells Moab to send a lamb as tribute to the ruler in Zion. The Greek Septuagint misunderstands this as a threat, describing God sending creeping animals over the land and asking whether Zion has become a desolate rock.

Passages

Isaiah 16:1

Hebrew Bible
1 Send rams as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the wilderness to the hill of Daughter Zion. 2 At the fords of the Arnon the Moabite women are like a bird that flies about when forced from its nest. 3 “Bring a plan, make a decision. Provide some shade in the middle of the day. Hide the fugitives! Do not betray the one who tries to escape. 4 Please let the Moabite fugitives live among you. Hide them from the destroyer!” Certainly the one who applies pressure will cease; the destroyer will come to an end; those who trample will disappear from the earth.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

LXX Isaiah 16:1

Septuagint
1 I will send as it were reptiles on the land: is not the mount of Zion a desolate rock? 2 For you shall be as a young bird taken away from a bird that has flown, daughter of Moab: and then, Arnon, 3 take further counsel, and continually make a shelter from grief: they flee in darkness at mid-day; they are amazed; do not be led captive. 4 The fugitives of Moab shall stay with you; they shall be to you a shelter from the face of the pursuer: for your alliance has been taken away, and the oppressing ruler has perished from the earth.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

... Given this view, the thought in Isaiah 16:1 in its Greek form seems to indicate that the Lord will punish the entire land of Moab (ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν) by sending something like reptiles (ἀποστελῶ ὡς ἑρπετὰ). This idea is to some extent contrary to the one in the Masoretic Text which sets the path for either: (a) urging Moab to send (if the verb is taken as imperative) a lamb to the ruler of the land (perhaps the king in Jerusalem), or (b) appealing to Israel, backed up by a present of a lamb, to help Moab in her plight. In the Masoretic Text, the gift is sent from Sela to the mountain of the daughter of Zion, thus contrasting the panic in Moab with the security of God’s chosen city. However, in the Septuagint, the assurance of this safety in Zion is expressed in a question ...
Abi T. Ngunga, Messianism in the Old Greek of Isaiah: An Intertextual Analysis, FRLANT 245 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013), 119.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 16:1 and LXX Isaiah 16:1

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