2  A 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.

3  Therefore 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.

4  My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;

bthe twilight I longed for

has been turned for me into trembling.

5  cThey prepare the table,

they spread the rugs,1

they eat, they drink.

Arise, O princes;

doil the shield!

6  For thus the Lord said to me:

“Go, set a watchman;

let him announce what he sees.

7  When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,

riders on donkeys, riders on camels,

let him listen diligently,

very diligently.”

8  Then 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.

9  And 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.”