Bible Strands
Isaiah 16:3
“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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The daughters of Moab plead for counsel and physical refuge from a neighboring power during their flight at the fords of the Arnon. They demand immediate protection from pursuers who are actively hunting those who flee.
The words — הָבִ֤יאִי (ha.vi.'u) means "bring" and עֵצָה֙ ('e.Tzah) means "counsel," forming the opening plea for strategic guidance. עֲשׂ֣וּ ('a.Su) translates to "make" or "render," paired with פְלִילָ֔ה (fe.li.Lah) for "a decision," emphasizing the demand for authoritative judgment.
The thread — This plea for hidden refuge echoes the concealment of prophets in 1 Kings 18:4 and the promise of shelter in Isaiah 32:2. The imagery of seeking shade for safety also parallels the metaphor in Judges 9:15.
Why it lands — The text demands a concrete response to vulnerability by prioritizing the protection of the fleeing over political convenience. It requires the reader to recognize the moral imperative of sheltering the displaced without hesitation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.
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 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.
- Judges 9:15 But the thornbush replied, ‘If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’
- Psalms 82:3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.
- Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”
- Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
- 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 56:8 Thus declares the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.”
- Jeremiah 21:12 O house of David, this is what the LORD says: ‘Administer justice every morning, and rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor, or My wrath will go forth like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it because of their evil deeds.
- Jeremiah 22:3 This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.