Isaiah 21:1–10

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

21The ^toracle concerning the wilderness of ^uthe sea.

^vAs whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,

it comes from the wilderness,

from a terrible land.

²A stern vision is told to me;

^wthe traitor betrays,

and the destroyer destroys.

Go up, O ^xElam;

lay siege, O ^yMedia;

all the ^zsighing she has caused

I bring to an end.

³Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;

^apangs have seized me,

like the pangs of a woman in labor;

I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;

I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

⁴My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;

^bthe twilight I longed for

has been turned for me into trembling.

^5cThey prepare the table,

they spread the rugs,¹

they eat, they drink.

Arise, O princes;

^doil the shield!

⁶For thus the Lord said to me:

“Go, set a watchman;

let him announce what he sees.

⁷When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,

riders on donkeys, riders on camels,

let him listen diligently,

very diligently.”

⁸Then he who saw cried out:²

^e“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,

continually by day,

and at my post I am stationed

whole nights.

⁹And behold, here come riders,

horsemen in pairs!”

^fAnd he answered,

^g“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;

^hand all the carved images of her gods

he has shattered to the ground.”

¹⁰O ⁱmy threshed and winnowed one,

what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel, I announce to you.