The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab. 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."
Earlier text
This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night! Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off. In its streets they wear sackcloth; on the rooftops and in the public squares they all wail, falling down weeping. Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voices are heard as far as Jahaz. Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out; their souls tremble within. My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith; they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim. The waters of Nimrim are dried up, and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone, and the greenery is no more. So they carry their wealth and belongings over the Brook of the Willows. For their outcry echoes to the border of Moab. Their wailing reaches Eglaim; it is heard in Beer-elim. The waters of Dimon are full of blood, but I will bring more upon Dimon—a lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.
Isaiah 16:13-14 functions as a prophetic editorial note that explicitly references the Moab oracle beginning at Isaiah 15:1: "This is the message (דָּבָר, davar) that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab." The verse then adds a chronological update — "In three years, as a hired worker counts the years" — fixing a precise timetable onto the earlier, undated massa (מַשָּׂא, "burden") against Moab. This self-referential device shows how prophets could reissue earlier oracles with fresh temporal specificity, distinguishing the original proclamation of judgment (Isa 15:1-16:12) from its updated application. The hired-worker comparison emphasizes exactness: just as a hired laborer counts every day of his contract, so Moab's glory will be diminished within precisely the stated period.