Isaiah 16:3
New International Version
“Make up your mind,” Moab says. “Render a decision. Make your shadow like night— at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees.

New Living Translation
“Help us,” they cry. “Defend us against our enemies. Protect us from their relentless attack. Do not betray us now that we have escaped.

English Standard Version
“Give counsel; grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; shelter the outcasts; do not reveal the fugitive;

Berean Standard Bible
“Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.

King James Bible
Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.

New King James Version
“Take counsel, execute judgment; Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day; Hide the outcasts, Do not betray him who escapes.

New American Standard Bible
“Give us advice, make a decision; Cast your shadow like night at high noon; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.

NASB 1995
“Give us advice, make a decision; Cast your shadow like night at high noon; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.

NASB 1977
“Give us advice, make a decision; Cast your shadow like night at high noon; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.

Legacy Standard Bible
“Bring us counsel, make a decision; Cast your shadow like night at high noon; Hide those banished, do not reveal the one who flees.

Amplified Bible
[Say to the ruler] “Give us advice, make a decision [for Moab, king of Judah]; Cast your shadow [over us] like night in the midst of noon; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive [to his pursuer].

Christian Standard Bible
Give us counsel and make a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade that is as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Give us counsel and make a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade that is as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.

American Standard Version
Give counsel, execute justice; make thy shade as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; betray not the fugitive.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Bring counsel and do deep meditation. Set as the night your shadow in the midst of noon; hide the wanderers and you shall not reveal the scattered ones

Brenton Septuagint Translation
take farther counsel, and continually make thou a shelter from grief: they flee in darkness at mid-day; they are amazed; be not thou led captive.

Contemporary English Version
Moab's messengers say to the people of Judah, "Be kind and help us! Shade us from the heat of the noonday sun. Hide our refugees! Don't turn them away.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Take counsel, gather a council: make thy shadow as the night in the midday: hide them that flee, and betray not them that wander about.

English Revised Version
Give counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday: hide the outcasts; bewray not the wanderer.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Give us advice. Make a decision. At high noon make your shadow as dark as night. Hide the fugitives. Don't betray the refugees.

Good News Translation
They say to the people of Judah, "Tell us what to do. Protect us like a tree that casts a cool shadow in the heat of noon, and let us rest in your shade. We are refugees; hide us where no one can find us.

International Standard Version
"Give us advice; reach a decision! Cast your shadow as if night had come at high noon. Shelter the fugitives, And don't betray a single refugee.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Give counsel, execute justice; Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; Hide the outcasts; betray not the fugitive.

Literal Standard Version
Bring in counsel, do judgment, | Make your shadow as night in the midst of noon, | Hide outcasts, do not reveal the wanderer.

Majority Standard Bible
“Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.

New American Bible
Offer counsel, take their part; at high noon make your shade like the night; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitives.

NET Bible
"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!

New Revised Standard Version
“Give counsel, grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive;

New Heart English Bible
Give counsel. Execute justice. Make your shade like the night in the midst of the noonday. Hide the outcasts. Do not betray the fugitive.

Webster's Bible Translation
Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noon-day; hide the outcasts; discover not him that wandereth.

World English Bible
Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the middle of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don’t betray the fugitive!

Young's Literal Translation
Bring ye in counsel, do judgment, Make as night thy shadow in the midst of noon, Hide outcasts, the wanderer reveal not.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
A Prophecy of Moab's Devastation
2Like fluttering birds pushed out of the nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon: 3“Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees. 4Let my fugitives stay with you; be a refuge for Moab from the destroyer.” When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ceased, and the oppressors have vanished from the land,…

Cross References
1 Kings 18:4
for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)

Isaiah 25:4
For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall,

Isaiah 32:2
Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.

Isaiah 58:7
Isn't it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Obadiah 1:14
Nor should you stand at the crossroads to cut off their fugitives, nor deliver up their survivors in the day of their distress.


Treasury of Scripture

Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow as the night in the middle of the noonday; hide the outcasts; denude not him that wanders.

take.

Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Psalm 82:3,4
Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy…

Jeremiah 21:12
O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

make

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 25:4
For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

Isaiah 32:2
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.

hide

Isaiah 56:8
The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

Obadiah 1:12-14
But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress…

Matthew 25:35
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

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Advice Betray Cast Counsel Decision Directions Discover Execute Flight Fugitive Fugitives Full Grant Height Hide High Judgment Justice Midst Night Noon Noonday Noon-Day Outcasts Refugees Render Reveal Safe Shade Shadow Wanderer Wandereth Wandering Wise
Isaiah 16
1. Moab is exhorted to yield obedience to the throne of David
6. Moab is threatened for her pride
9. The prophet bewails her
12. The judgment of Moab














(3) Make thy shadow as the night . . .--The whole verse is addressed, as the context shows, not by the prophet to Moab, but by Moab to the rulers of Judah. The fugitives call on those rulers to plead for them and act as umpires, to be to them "as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land" (Isaiah 32:2), black as night whilst the hot sun glares all around. Some critics, however, hold that the prophet still speaks to the Moabites and calls on them to protect the fugitives from Judah as they had done of old (Ruth 1:2; 1Samuel 22:3), and so to secure a return of like protection (Kay).

Verse 3. - Take counsel, execute judgment, etc. According to most critics, these are the words of the Moabites, or of a Moabite ambassador at Jerusalem, and are a call on Judaea to give shelter to the fugitives from Moab. Some, however, as Dr. Kay, maintain that the words are the prophet's, addressed to Moab, calling on her to treat kindly fugitives from Judaea. Make thy shadow as the night (comp. Isaiah 4:6). In the hot land of Moab the sun is an enemy, and "the shadow of a great rock" a welcome refuge.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
“Give
הָבִ֤יאִי (hā·ḇî·’î)
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - feminine singular
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

us counsel,
עֵצָה֙ (‘ê·ṣāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 6098: Advice, plan, prudence

render
עֲשׂ֣וּ (‘ă·śū)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 6213: To do, make

a decision.
פְלִילָ֔ה (p̄ə·lî·lāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 6415: Office of judge or umpire

Shelter us at noonday
צָהֳרָ֑יִם (ṣā·ho·rā·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 6672: A light, double light, noon

with shade
צִלֵּ֖ךְ (ṣil·lêḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 6738: A shadow

as dark as night.
כַלַּ֛יִל (ḵal·la·yil)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3915: A twist, night, adversity

Hide
סַתְּרִי֙ (sat·tə·rî)
Verb - Piel - Imperative - feminine singular
Strong's 5641: To hide, conceal

the refugees;
נִדָּחִ֔ים (nid·dā·ḥîm)
Verb - Nifal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 5080: To impel, thrust, banish

do not
אַל־ (’al-)
Adverb
Strong's 408: Not

betray
תְּגַלִּֽי׃ (tə·ḡal·lî)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 1540: To denude, to exile, to reveal

the one who flees.
נֹדֵ֖ד (nō·ḏêḏ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 5074: To wave to and fro, to rove, flee, to drive away


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 16:3 Give counsel! (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 16:2
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