Isaiah 21:1–10

A Message About Babylonia

21Here is a message the Lord gave me about Babylonia. It is known as the Desert by the Two Rivers.

An attack is coming through the desert.

It is coming from a land of terror.

It’s sweeping along like a windstorm blowing across the Negev Desert.

²I have seen a vision about something terrible that will happen.

People are turning against Babylon.

Robbers are taking its goods.

Elamites, attack the city! Medes, surround it!

The Lord will put an end to all of the suffering Babylon has caused.

³The vision fills my body with pain.

Pains take hold of me.

They are like the pains of a woman having a baby.

I am shaken by what I hear.

I’m terrified by what I see.

⁴My heart grows weak.

Fear makes me tremble.

I longed for evening to come.

But it brought me horror instead of rest.

⁵In my vision the Babylonians set the tables.

They spread the rugs out.

They eat. They drink.

Get up, you officers!

Rub your shields with oil!

⁶The Lord said to me,

“Go. Put a guard on duty on Jerusalem’s walls.

Have him report what he sees.

⁷Tell him to watch for chariots

that are pulled by teams of horses.

Tell him to watch for men riding on donkeys or camels.

Make sure he stays awake.

Make sure he stays wide awake.”

⁸“My master!” the guard shouts back.

“Day after day I stand here on the lookout tower.

Every night I stay here on duty.

⁹Look! Here comes a man in a chariot!

It’s being pulled by a team of horses.

He’s calling out the news,

‘Babylon has fallen! It has fallen!

All of the statues of its gods

lie broken in pieces on the ground!’ ”

¹⁰My people, you have been crushed

like grain on a threshing floor.

But now I’m telling you the good news I’ve heard.

It comes from the Lord who rules over all.

He is the God of Israel.