Isaiah 16:2

Isaiah 16:2 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For 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.
• New International Version (NIV)Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For it shall be as a wandering bird thrown out of the nest; So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.

Context of Isaiah 16:2

1Send lambs to the ruler of the land from Sela in the desert to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion. For like fluttering birds, scattered from a nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the fords of Arnon. 3‘Give counsel, execute justice. Cast your shadow like night at noonday. Hide the refugees, do not betray the fugitive. 4Let My refugees stay with you. Be for Moab a hiding place from the face of the destroyer. For the extortion is at an end, devastation ceases, oppressors are gone from the land.

Isaiah 16:2 word by word

וְהָיָ֥ה כְעוֹף־נוֹדֵ֖ד קֵ֣ן מְשֻׁלָּ֑ח תִּֽהְיֶ֙ינָה֙ בְּנ֣וֹת מוֹאָ֔ב מַעְבָּרֹ֖ת לְאַרְנֽוֹן׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• as a wanderingנָדַדnâdad · to wanderH5074
• birdעוֹף‛ôph · birdH5775
• cast outשָׁלַחshâlach · to send: departH7971
• of the nestקֵןqên · nestH7064
• the daughtersבַּתbath · daughterH1323
• of Moabמוֹאָבmô'âb · MoabH4124
• shall be at the fordsמַעֲבָרָהma‛ăbâr ma‛ăbârâh · fordH4569
• of Arnonאַרְנוֹן'arnôn 'arnôn · ArnonH769

Cross-references for Isaiah 16:2

• Isaiah 13:14It will be like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with no one gathering. Each will return to his own people, each will flee to his own country.
• Proverbs 27:8Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man that wanders from his home.
• Numbers 21:13They set out from there and camped along the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is also the border between Moab and the Amorites.
• Deuteronomy 2:36From Aroer which is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon and the city by the wadi, all the way up to the Gilead, there was not a town too high for us. Adonai our God gave everything over to us.
• Deuteronomy 3:8“So at that time we took from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land across the Jordan, from the Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon.
• Joshua 13:16their territory: from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland up to Medeba,
• Judges 11:18traveled through the wilderness, around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab and they camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.

Commentaries on Isaiah 16:2

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2For it shall be - It shall happen in the time of the calamity that shall come upon Moab. As a wandering bird - (See Isaiah 10:14.) The same idea is presented in Proverbs 27:8: As a bird that wanders from her nest, So is a man that wandereth from his place. The idea here is that of a bird driven away from her nest, where the nest is destroyed, and the young fly about without any home or place of rest. So would Moab be when the inhabitants were driven from…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-4Moab is making a request to Judah for asylum (protection in another country).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. cast out of ... nest--rather, "as a brood cast out" (in apposition with "a wandering bird," or rather, wandering birds), namely, a brood just fledged and expelled from the nest in which they were hatched [Horsley]. Compare Is 10:14; De 32:11. daughters of Moab--that is, the inhabitants of Moab. So 2Ki 19:21; Psa 48:11; Jr 46:11; La 4:22 [Maurer]. at the fords--trying to cross the boundary river of Moab, in order to escape out of the land. Ewald and…Read the comment

Topics related to Isaiah 16:2

• Arnon
• Birds

In the dictionaries

• Moab
• Moab; Moabites
• Moab, Moabite
• Ford
• Grind
• Outcast
• Treader
• Arnon
• Canon of the Old Testament
• Esther, the Rest of

Commentaries on Isaiah 16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings