Isaiah 16:11

Amplified Bible

Therefore my heart sounds like a harp [in mournful compassion] for Moab, And my inner being mourns for Kir-hareseth.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab,as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.

Hebrew Names Version
Why my heart sounds like a harp for Mo'av, and my inward parts for Kir-Heres.

King James Version
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.

English Standard Version
Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

New American Standard Bible
Therefore my inner being sounds like a harp for Moab. And my heart for Kir-hareseth.

New Century Version
My heart cries for Moab like a harp playing a funeral song; I am very sad for Kir Hareseth.

World English Bible
Why my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir-heres.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Wherefore, my bowels shall sounde like an harpe for Moab, and mine inwarde partes for Ker-haresh.

Legacy Standard Bible
Therefore my inner being moans like a harp for MoabAnd my inward feelings for Kir‑hareseth.

Berean Standard Bible
Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-hareseth.

Contemporary English Version
Deep in my heart I hurt for Moab and Kir-Heres.

Complete Jewish Bible
This is why my heart throbs like a lyre for Mo'av, and everything in me for Kir-Heres.

Darby Translation
Therefore my bowels sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirheres.

Easy-to-Read Version
So I will hum a sad song for Moab and Kir Heres, like a harp playing a funeral song.

George Lamsa Translation
Therefore my heart shall lament like a harp for Moab, and my soul for the fortified walls which will be destroyed.

Good News Translation
I groan with sadness for Moab, with grief for Kir Heres.

Lexham English Bible
Therefore my heart moans like a harp for Moab and my inner parts for Kir-heres.

Literal Translation
For this reason my belly shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir-haresh.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Wherfore my bely robled (as it had bene a lute) for Moabs sake, & myne inwarde membres, for the bryck walles sake.

American Standard Version
Wherefore my heart soundeth like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-heres.

Bible in Basic English
For this cause the cords of my heart are sounding for Moab, and I am full of sorrow for Kir-heres.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Wherefore my heart moaneth like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-heres.

King James Version (1611)
Wherefore my bowels shal sound like an harpe for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Wherfore my bowels shall rumble like an Harpe for Moabs sake, & mine inwarde partes for the cities sake that is made of bricke.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Therefore my belly shall sound as a harp for Moab, and thou hast repaired my inward parts as a wall.

English Revised Version
Wherefore my bowels sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-heres.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
On this thing my wombe schal sowne as an harpe to Moab, and myn entrails to the wal of bakun tiel stoon.

Update Bible Version
Therefore my insides sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir-heres.

Webster's Bible Translation
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir-haresh.

New English Translation
So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, my inner being sighs for Kir Hareseth.

New King James Version
Therefore my heart shall resound like a harp for Moab, And my inner being for Kir Heres.

New Living Translation
My heart's cry for Moab is like a lament on a harp. I am filled with anguish for Kir-hareseth.

New Life Bible
So my heart cries with sorrow for Moab like a harp. Inside myself I cry for Kir-hareseth.

New Revised Standard
Therefore my heart throbs like a harp for Moab, and my very soul for Kir-heres.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For this cause, mine inward parts - for Moab, like a lyre, shall make a plaintive sound, - Yea what is within me, for Kir-heres.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for the brick wall.

Revised Standard Version
Therefore my soul moans like a lyre for Moab, and my heart for Kir-he'res.

Young's Literal Translation
Therefore my bowels for Moab as a harp do sound, And mine inward parts for Kir-Haresh.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab And my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth.

Contextual Overview

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride— Even of his arrogance, his conceit, his rage, His untruthful boasting. ⁷Therefore Moab will wail for Moab; everyone will wail. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, As those who are utterly stricken and discouraged. ⁸For the fields of Heshbon have languished and withered, and the vines of Sibmah as well; The lords of the nations have trampled down [Moab's] choice vine branches, Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered into the wilderness; Its tendrils stretched out, they passed over [the shores of] the [Dead] Sea. ⁹Therefore I (Isaiah) will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vines of Sibmah. I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; For the war-cry [of the enemy] has fallen on your summer fruits and your harvest. ¹⁰Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field; In the vineyards there will be no singing or joyful sound; No treader treads out wine in the presses, For I (God) put an end to the joyful shouting. ¹¹Therefore my heart sounds like a harp [in mournful compassion] for Moab, And my inner being mourns for Kir-hareseth.¹²So it will come to pass when Moab presents himself, When he wearies himself [worshiping] on his high place [of idolatry] And comes to his sanctuary [of Chemosh, god of Moab] to pray, That he will not prevail. ¹³This is the word which the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab [when Moab's pride and resistance to God were first known]. ¹⁴But 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."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

my: Isaiah 15:5, Isaiah 63:15, Jeremiah 4:19, Jeremiah 31:20, Jeremiah 48:36, Hosea 11:8, Philippians 2:1

Kirharesh: Isaiah 16:7, Kir-hareseth

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 3:25 - Kirharaseth Isaiah 15:1 - Kir Isaiah 21:3 - are Lamentations 1:20 - my bowels Ezekiel 21:6 - with the Philippians 1:8 - in

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
But God said, "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall name him Isaac (laughter); and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him.

Exodus 3:7
The LORD said, "I have in fact seen the affliction (suffering, desolation) of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters (oppressors); for I know their pain and suffering.

Exodus 3:9
"Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me; and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

1 Samuel 1:20
It came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; she named him Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked for him from the LORD."

Job 38:41
"Who provides prey for the raven When its young cry to God And wander about without food?

Psalms 22:24
For He has not despised nor detested the suffering of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He listened.

Isaiah 7:14
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Listen carefully, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name Immanuel (God with us).

Luke 1:13
But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your petition [in prayer] was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.

Luke 1:31
"Listen carefully: you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.

Luke 1:63
And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote as follows, "His name is John." And they were all astonished.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab,.... Making a noise as the harp does, and a mournful one as that, when used at funerals; which it makes when it is stricken or played on with the hand, as these were, through the afflictive and punitive hand of God; and which, when stricken, causes a quavering of the strings, to which the inward trembling of the bowels is compared, and is very expressive of the prophet's sympathy, or those he personates; for, when one string of the harp is touched, the rest sound. For these words, as Kimchi says, are spoken in the language of the Moabites; those that survived lamenting the desolate state of their country, which must be very great and affecting; and to show that it was so is the design of the prophet's expressing himself after this manner; for if it was painful to him, it must be much more so to them; so the Targum,

"wherefore the bowels of the Moabites shall sound as a harp;''

of the sounding of the bowels, see Isaiah 63:15:

and mine inward parts for Kirharesh: the same with Kirhareseth,

Isaiah 16:7 which being a principal city, the destruction of it was greatly laid to heart. The Targum is,

"and their heart shall grieve for the men of the city of their strength;''

it being a strong city, in which they placed their confidence; but being destroyed, and the inhabitants of it, it was very affecting, to which agrees Jeremiah 48:31.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wherefore my bowels - This is also an expression of the deep grief of the prophet in view of the calamities which were coming upon Moab. The “bowels” in the Scriptures are everywhere represented as the seat of compassion, pity, commiseration, and tender mercy Genesis 43:30 : ‘His bowels did yearn upon his brother’ - he deeply felt for him, he greatly pitied him 1 Kings 3:26; Psalms 25:6; Proverbs 12:10; Song of Solomon 5:4; Isaiah 63:15; Jeremiah 4:19; Jeremiah 31:20; Philippians 1:8; Philippians 2:1. In classic writers, the word ‘bowels’ denotes the “upper” viscera of victims - the heart, the lungs, the liver, which were eaten during or after the sacrifice (Robinson, “Lex.,” on the word σπλάγχνον splangchnon). In the Scriptures, it denotes the “inward parts” - evidently also the upper viscera, regarded as the seat of the emotions and passions. The word as we use it - denoting the lower “viscera” - by no means expresses the sense of the word in the Scriptures, and it is this change in the signification which renders the use of the very language of the Bible unpleasant or inappropriate. We express the idea by the use of the word “heart” - the seat of the affections.

Shall sound like an harp - The “bowels” are represented in the Scriptures as affected in various modes in the exercise of pity or compassion. Thus, in Lamentations 1:20, Jeremiah says, ‘My bowels are troubled’ (see Lamentations 2:1; Jeremiah 31:20). Job Job 30:27, says, ‘My bowels boiled, and rested not;’ there was great agitation; deep feeling. Thus, Jeremiah 4:19 :

My bowels! My bowels! I am pained at my very heart.

My heart “maketh a noise” in me.

So Isaiah 63:15 : ‘Where is the sounding of thy bowels and mercies?’ The word ‘sound’ here means to make a tumultuous noise; and the whole expression here denotes that his heart was affected with the calamities of Moab as the strings of the harp vibrate when beaten with the plectrum or the band. His heart was deeply pained and affected by the calamities of Moab, and responded to those calamities, as the strings of the harp did to the blow of the plectrum.

Mine inward parts - The expressions used here are somewhat analogous to ours of the “beating of the heart,” to denote deep emotion. Forster says of the savages of the South Sea that they call compassion “a barking of the bowels.”

For Kirharesh - (See the note at Isaiah 16:7.)