Isaiah 21:1–10

God Commands That Babylon Be Taken

1 The 1aoracle concerning the 2bwilderness of the sea.

As cwindstorms in the 3Negev sweep on,

It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.

2 A aharsh vision has been shown to me;

The btreacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.

Go up, cElam, lay siege, Media;

I have made an end of all 1the groaning she has caused.

3 For this reason my aloins are full of anguish;

Pains have seized me like the pains of a bwoman in labor.

I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.

4 My 1mind reels, 2horror overwhelms me;

The twilight I longed for has been aturned for me into trembling.

5 They aset the table, they 1spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;

“Rise up, captains, oil the shields,”

6 For thus the Lord says to me,

“Go, station the lookout, let him areport what he sees.

7 “When he sees ariders, horsemen in pairs,

A train of donkeys, a train of camels,

Let him pay close attention, very close attention.”

8 Then 1the lookout called,

“aO Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,

And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

9 “Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”

And one said, “aFallen, fallen is Babylon;

And all the bimages of her gods 1are shattered on the ground.”

10 O my athreshed people, and my 1afflicted of the threshing floor!

What I have heard from the Lord of hosts,

The God of Israel, I make known to you.