the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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Isaiah 16:14
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But now Yahweh speaks, saying, "Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be dishonored along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and not mighty."
But now the LORD speaks, saying, "Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and impotent."
But nowe the Lorde hath spoken, saying: In three yeres, which shalbe as the yeres of an hired seruaunt, shall the glorie of Moab be turned into contempt throughout all his multitude, which is very great: and that which remayneth shalbe very small and feeble.
And now Jehovah speaketh saying, Within three years, as the years of a hired servant, and the glory of Moab shall be brought to nothing, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be small, few, of no account.
But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble."
But now Jehovah has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, then the glory of Moab will be abased, with all the great host; and the remnant shall be few; small, not mighty.
And now the Lord says, "In three years (counting as exactly as a hired helper would) all those people and the things they are proud of will be gone. Only a few of their weakest people will be left."
But now Yahweh has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and of no account.
But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three yeeres, as the yeeres of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shalbe contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.
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 shall be very small and feeble.
But now the LORDE sayeth thus: In thre yeare shal ye power of Moab wt their pope (which is greate) be minished, like as ye burthe of an hyred seruaunte: And as for ye remnaunt of them, they shalbe lesse then a fewe, and not rekened moch worth.
But now the LORD speaks, saying, "Within three years, as the years of a hired man [who will not serve longer than the agreed time], the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all the great population, and the remnant [that survives] will be very small and of no account."
But now Jehovah hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and of no account.
But now the Lord has said, In three years, the years of a servant working for payment, the glory of Moab, all that great people, will be turned to shame, and the rest of Moab will be very small and without honour.
But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant [shall be] very small [and] feeble.
Now the Lord makes this announcement: "Within exactly three years Moab's splendor will disappear, along with all her many people; there will be just a few, insignificant survivors left."
Now he says, "The contract of a hired worker is good for three years, but Moab's glory and greatness won't last any longer than that. Only a few of its people will survive, and they will be left helpless."
But now Adonai has said, "Within three years [and not a day more], as if a hired worker were keeping track of the time, the glory of Mo'av will be brought into contempt, despite its large population; and the surviving remnant will be few and feeble."
And nowe the Lorde hath spoken, saying, In three yeres, as the yeeres of a hireling, and the glorie of Moab shall be contemned in all the great multitude, & the remnant shalbe very small and feeble.
But now the LORD has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be despised, with all that great multitude of his people; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.
But now the LORD has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Mo'av shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and of no account.
But now the LORD hath spoken, saying: 'Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall wax contemptible for all his great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and without strength.'
But now the Lord says, "Within three years, counting each day, the glory of Moab will be ended. From its great population, only a feeble few will be left alive."
But now the Lord says, "In three years, as a servant would count them, the shining-greatness of Moab and all his many people will be hated. And those left alive will be very few and weak."
And now I say, in three years, of the years of an hireling, the glory of Moab shall be dishonoured with all his great wealth; and he shall be left few in number, and not honoured.
But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and of no account.
And now the LORD says, "In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab's splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble."
But now the Lord says, In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all its great multitude; and those who survive will be very few and feeble.
But now, hath Yahweh spoken saying, In three years, - as the years of a hireling, shall the glory of Moab be diminished, with all the great multitude, - even a very small remnant, of no account.
And now the Lord hath spoken, saying: In three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be taken away for all the multitude of the people, and it shall be left small and feeble, not many.
But now Yahweh speaks, saying, "In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will become contemptible, with all of the great multitude, and the remnant will be a few, small, not strong.
But now the Lord has spoken, saying, "In three years, like 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 very few and feeble."
But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as a hired worker would count them, the glory of Moab will become contemptible along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and impotent."
Now the Lord says, "In three years all those people and what they take pride in will be hated. (This is three years as a hired helper would count time.) There will be a few people left, but they will be weak."
And now the Lord says, "In exactly three years Moab's great wealth will disappear. Of its many people, only a few will survive, and they will be weak."
And now the Lord says, "In three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab's splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak."
And now the Lord spak, seiynge, In thre yeer that weren as the yeeris of an hirid man, the glorie of Moab schal be takun awei on al the myche puple; and ther schal be left in it as a litil rasyn, and a litil, and not myche.
But now the LORD says, "In three years, like the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who survive will be very few and feeble."
And now hath Jehovah spoken, saying, `In three years, as years of an hireling, Lightly esteemed is the honour of Moab, With all the great multitude, And the remnant [is] little, small, not mighty!'
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
three: Isaiah 7:16, Isaiah 15:5, Isaiah 21:16, Deuteronomy 15:8
the glory: Isaiah 17:4, Isaiah 23:9, Genesis 31:1, Esther 5:11, Jeremiah 9:23, Nahum 2:9, Nahum 2:10
and the remnant: Jeremiah 48:46, Jeremiah 48:47
feeble: or, not many
Reciprocal: Leviticus 25:50 - according to the time Deuteronomy 15:18 - a double Nehemiah 13:1 - the Ammonite Isaiah 17:3 - they shall Isaiah 25:10 - Moab Jeremiah 25:21 - Moab Jeremiah 48:1 - Moab Jeremiah 48:2 - no more Jeremiah 48:16 - near Ezekiel 25:8 - Moab Hosea 10:15 - in Amos 2:1 - of Moab Zephaniah 2:9 - Surely Zephaniah 3:6 - cut
Cross-References
And they returned, and came to En-mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.
Therefore he called that place Beer-sheba. Because there they swore both of them.
And Isaac came from the way of Beer-lahai-roi. For he dwelt in the land of the South.
And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac dwelt by Beer-lahai-roi.
And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
But now the Lord hath spoken,.... Something else. What follows is a distinct prophecy from the former, and has a date annexed to it, when it should be fulfilled: the former prophecy relates to the utter destruction of the Moabites by the Babylonians, in the times of Nebuchadnezzar; of which Jeremiah, Jeremiah 48:1 prophesies, in much the same language as Isaiah; and so Jarchi observes, that the final destruction of Moab was by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar: but this was of a lesser nature, and to be accomplished in a short time, either by Shalmaneser, or by Sennacherib king of Assyria, or Esarhaddon his son:
saying, within three years, as the year of an hireling; that is, precisely and exactly three years, neither more nor fewer, neither sooner nor later; as whatever time is agreed upon by an hireling, as soon as ever it is out, which he often thinks of, and counts exactly, he demands his wages, and his freedom. Some think this prophecy bears date with the former, concerning the Philistines, which was the year King Ahaz died, Isaiah 14:28 and so had its accomplishment in the fourth year of Hezekiah, when Shalmaneser came up against Samaria k, and took Moab in his way, 2 Kings 18:9 others, that it was given out in the fourth year of Hezekiah, when the Assyrian besieged Samaria, and after three years took it, and then returned and fell upon the Moabites; others place it in the eleventh year of Hezekiah, and suppose it to be fulfilled in his fourteenth by Sennacherib, about the same time he came up and took the fenced cities of Judah, and besieged Jerusalem, 2 Kings 18:13 and with this agree the Jewish writers l, whose words are these,
"after those things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came into Judah, 2 Chronicles 32:1 and at the same time sent Tartan to Ashdod, Isaiah 20:1 who overran the Ammonites and Moabites, who helped him when he besieged Samaria three years, that it might be fulfilled what is said,
Isaiah 16:14 at the same time the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem.''
Upon which Kimchi observes, as an interpretation of the phrase, "as the years of an hireling",
"it is as if it was said, because they helped the king of Assyria three years against Samaria, it was as if they had been hired; therefore they fell by his hand, and the glory of Moab was light in the hand of the king of Assyria.''
But others make it to be three years after this time; but very likely it might be later still, about the eighteenth or nineteenth year of Hezekiah, as Gataker thinks, who, in his notes on this place, has collected all these senses, and made his observations on them; and so had its accomplishment in some expedition of Esarhaddon, who greatly weakened and impoverished the country of Moab, though he did not destroy it, and which was an earnest and pledge of the utter destruction of it before prophesied of. Noldius renders it, "after three years"; and so Grotius: it was in the first year of Hezekiah, as Noldius observes, that this was said; and in the fourth year of his reign, Shalmaneser came against Samaria, and in his way was the beginning of this destruction, and but a beginning of it, as he observes, yet a pledge of the consummation by Nebuchadnezzar, which was long after these three years of Isaiah.
And the glory of Moab shall be contemned with all that great multitude; of cities and towns, of the inhabitants of them, and of wealth and riches, things in which Moab gloried, and were reckoned weighty and heavy things; these were accounted light by the king of Assyria, who spoiled them, or at least greatly diminished them:
and the remnant [shall be] very small [and] feeble; or, "not mighty" or "strong"; those that were not cut off by the Assyrian army would be but few, and these weak and without strength, being dispossessed of their cities, and of their wealth; though, in process of time, between this, and the fulfilment of the former prophecy, and that of Jeremiah, they recovered themselves, and became very numerous and flourishing.
k See Prideaux's Connect. par. 1. B. 1. p. 18. So Vitringa. l Seder Olam Rabba, c. 23. p. 64.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
But now the Lord hath spoken - This refers to the particular and specific prophecy of Isaiah that destruction should come upon them in three years. Instead of a “general but indefinite” prediction of calamity to the Moabites, such as had been uttered by the former prophets, or by Isaiah himself before, it was now specific and definite in regard to the “time” when it should be fulfilled.
Within three years - We have no means of ascertaining the exact fulfillment of this prediction, nor do we certainly know by whom it was accomplished.
As the years of an hireling - A man that is hired has a certain time specified during which he is to labor; the years, the months, the days for which he is engaged are agreed on, nor will he suffer any addition to be made to it. So the prophet says that the very time is fixed. It shall not be varied. It will be adhered to by God - as the time is adhered to between a man who employs another and him who is hired. And it means, that “exactly at the time” which is here specified, the predicted destruction should come upon Moab.
The glory of Moab - That in which it glories, or boasts - its wealth, its armies, its cities, towns, etc.
Shall be contemned - Shall be esteemed of no value; shall be destroyed.
And the remnant - There shall be few cities, few people, and very little wealth that shall escape the desolation (compare Isaiah 10:25; Isaiah 24:6). Jerome says that ‘this prophecy was delivered after the death of Ahaz, and in the reign of Hezekiah, during whose reign the ten tribes were led by Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, into captivity. And, therefore, after three years, the Assyrians came and destroyed Moab, and very few were left in the land who could inhabit the deserted cities, or cultivate the desolate fields.’ But it is not certainly known to what particular time the prophecy refers. In regard to the present state of Moab, and the complete fulfillment of the prophecies respecting it, the following works may be consulted: Newton, “On the Prophecies;” Keith, “On the Prophecies;” Burckhardt’s “Travels in Syria;” and Captains Irby and Mangles’ “Travels.” In regard to the fulfillment of these predictions respecting the destruction of Moab, it may be sufficient to refer to the remarks which I have made on the particular places which are mentioned in these two chapters, and to the writers mentioned above.
All travelers concur in the general desolation of that country which was once so thickly studded with towns, and that abounded so richly in flocks, and produced so luxuriantly the grape. It is now strewed with ruins. All the cities of Moab have disappeared. Their place is characterized in the map of Volney’s “Travels, by the ruins of towns.” Burckhardt, who encountered many difficulties in so desolate and dangerous a land, thus records the brief history of a few of them: ‘The ruins of Eleale, Heshbon, Meon, Medaba, Dibon, Arver, all situated on the north side of the Arnon, still subsist to illustrate the history of the Beni-Israel’ (“Life and Travels,” prefixed to the “Travel’s in Nubia,” pp. 48, 49). ‘And it might be added,’ says Keith, ‘that they still subsist to confirm the inspiration of the Jewish Scriptures, for the desolation of each of these cities was the theme of a distinct prediction’ (“Prophecies,” p. 129). Within the boundaries of Moab, Burckhardt enumerates about “fifty” ruined cities, many of them extensive. In general they are a broken down and undistinguishable mass of ruins; but, in some instances, there are remains of temples, sepulchral monuments, traces of hanging gardens, entire columns lying on the ground, and dilapidated walls made of stones of large dimensions (see “Travels in Syria,” pp. 311-456).
In view of these two chapters, constituting one prophecy, and the facts in regard to the present state of the country of Moab, we may observe that we have here clear and unanswerable evidence of the genuineness and truth of the sacred records. That evidence is found in the “particularity” with which “places” are mentioned; and in the fact that impostors would not “specify” places, any further than was unavoidable. Mistakes, we all know, are liable to be made by those who attempt to describe the “geography” of places which they have not seen. Yet here is a description of a land and its numerous towns, made nearly three thousand years ago, and in its “particulars” it is sustained by all the travelers in modern times. The ruins of the same towns are still seen; their places, in general, can be designated; and there is a moral certainty, therefore, that this prophecy was made by one who “knew” the locality of those places, and that, therefore, the prophecy is ancient and genuine.
An impostor would never have attempted such a description as this; nor could he have made it so accurate and true. In the language of Prof. Stuart (“Bib. Rep.,” vol. vii. pp. 108, 109), we may say, ‘How obviously everything of this kind serves to give confirmation to the authority and credibility of the sacred records! Do sceptics undertake to scoff at the Bible, and aver that it is the work of impostors who lived in later ages? Besides asking them what “object” impostors could have in forging a book of such high and lofty principles, we may ask - and ask with an assurance that need not fear the danger of being put to the blush - whether impostors of later ages could possibly have so managed, as to preserve all the “localities” in complete order which the Scriptures present? Rare impostors they must indeed have been - people possessed of more knowledge of antiquity than we can well imagine could ever be possessed by such as would condescend to an imposition of such a character. In fact the thing appears to be morally impossible, if one considers it in the light of “antiquity,” when so little knowledge of a geographical kind was in existence, and when mistakes respecting countries and places with which one was not personally familiar, were almost, if not altogether, unavoidable.
‘How happens it, now, that the authors of the Old Testament Scriptures should have possessed such a wonderful tact in geography, as it would seem they did, unless they lived at the time and in the countries of which they have spoken? This happens not elsewhere. It is but yesterday since one of the first scientific writers on geology in Great Britain, published to the world the declaration that our Mississippi and Missouri rivers “belong to the tropics.” Respectable writers, even in Germany, the land of Classical attainments, have sometimes placed Coelo-Syria on the east of the Anti-Libanus ridge, or even seemed to transfer Damascus over the mountains, and place it between the two Lebanon ridges in the valley.’ No such mistakes occur in the sacred writers. They write as people who were familiar with the geography of places named; they mention places with the utmost familiarity; and, after a lapse of three thousand years, every successive traveler who visits Moab, Idumea, or Palestine, does something to confirm the accuracy of Isaiah. Towns, bearing the same name, or the ruins of towns, are located in the same relative position in which he said they were; and the ruins of once splendid cities, broken columns, dilapidated walls, trodden down vineyards, and half-demolished temples, proclaim to the world that those cities are what he said they would be, and that he was under the inspiration of God.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Isaiah 16:14. Within three years — בשלש beshalish כשלש keshalish, according, or in or about three years, is the reading of nine of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and two ancient editions.
But the present reading may well stand: "Now, the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling." It seems as if this prophecy had been delivered before, without any time specified for its fulfilment; but now the time is determined - "in three years, as the years of a hireling" - for, as a hireling counts even to a single day, and will not abide with his employer an hour beyond the time agreed on; so, in three years, even to a day, from the delivery of this prophecy, shall destruction come upon Moab. This is the import of the present text; but if we take כשלש keshalish, AS in three years, or in about three years' time, the prophecy is not so definite.
These three years, says Calmet, are mentioned from the death of Ahaz, see Isaiah 14:28, and end the third year of Hezekiah, three years before the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser. This conquerer did not ruin Moab so completely as not to leave a man in the land; the final desolation of Moab was reserved for Nebuchadnezzar, five years after the taking of Jerusalem.
Feeble - "And without strength."] An ancient MS., with the Septuagint, reads ולא velo, "and not."
