Isaiah 21:1–10

A Judgment on Babylon

21An oracle ^fagainst the desert by the sea: ^g

Like storms that pass over the Negev,

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

²A troubling vision is declared to me:

“The treacherous one acts treacherously, ^h

and the destroyer destroys.

Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all her groaning.”

³Therefore I am ⁱfilled with anguish.

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

I am too perplexed to hear,

too dismayed to see.

⁴My heart staggers;

horror terrifies me.

He has turned my last glimmer of hope ^k

into sheer terror. ^l

⁵Prepare a table, ^mand spread out a carpet!

Eat and drink!

Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!

⁶For the Lord has said to me,

“Go, post a lookout;

let him report what he sees.

⁷When he sees riders—

pairs of horsemen,

riders on donkeys,

riders on camels—

he must pay close attention.”

⁸Then the lookout ⁿreported,

“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day, ^o

and I stay at my post all night.

⁹Look, riders come—

horsemen in pairs.”

And he answered, saying,

“Babylon has fallen, ^phas fallen.

All the images of her gods

have been shattered on the ground.” ^q

¹⁰My people who have been crushed

on the threshing floor, ^r

I have declared to you

what I have heard from the Lord of Hosts,

the God of Israel.