A JUDGMENT ON BABYLON

21 A pronouncementq concerning the desert by the sea:r

Like storms that pass over the Negev,

it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.

2 A troubling vision is declared to me:

“The treacherous one acts treacherously,s

and the destroyer destroys.

Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning.”

3 Therefore I amD filled with anguish.

Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.t

I am too perplexed to hear,

too dismayed to see.

4 My heart staggers;

horror terrifies me.

He has turned my last glimmer of hopeE

into sheer terror.u

5 Prepare a table,v and spread out a carpet!

Eat and drink!

Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!

6 For the Lord has said to me,

“Go, post a lookout;

let him report what he sees.

7 When he sees riders—

pairs of horsemen,

riders on donkeys,

riders on camels—

he must pay close attention.”

8 Then the lookoutA reported,

“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,a

and I stay at my post all night.

9 Look, riders come—

horsemen in pairs.”

And he answered, saying,

“Babylon has fallen,b has fallen.

All the images of her gods

have been shattered on the ground.”c

10 My people who have been crushed

on the threshing floor,d

I have declared to you

what I have heard from the Lord of Armies,

the God of Israel.