Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.
Take counsel, execute judgment ... - Take measures for espousing our cause in our affliction. Gesenius, Maurer, etc., regard these verses as an address of the fugitive Moabites to the Jews for protection: they translate Isaiah 16:4, 'Let mine outcasts of Moab dwell with thee, Judah;' the protection will be refused by the Jews for the pride of Moab (Isaiah 16:6). Vitringa makes it an additional advice to Moab, besides paying tribute. Give shelter to the Jewish outcasts who take refuge in thy land (Isaiah 16:3-4): so "mercy" will be shown thee in turn by whatever king sits on the "throne" of "David" (Isaiah 16:5). Isaiah foresees that Moab will be too proud to pay the tribute, or conciliate Judah by sheltering its outcasts (Isaiah 16:6); therefore judgment shall be executed. However, as Moab just before is represented as itself an outcast in Idumea, it seems incongruous that it should be called on to shelter Jewish outcasts. So that it seems rather (as Gesenius views it) to foretell the ruined state of Moab, when its people should beg the Jews for shelter, but be refused for their pride. Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noon-day - emblem of a thick shelter from the glaring noon-day heat (Isaiah 4:6; Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 32:2).
Bewray not him that wandereth - betray not the fugitive to his pursuer.