Isaiah 21

The Fall of Babylon Proclaimed

21The ¹burden against the Wilderness of the Sea.

As ^awhirlwinds in the South pass through,

So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.

²A distressing vision is declared to me;

^bThe treacherous dealer deals treacherously,

And the plunderer plunders.

^cGo up, O Elam!

Besiege, O Media!

All its sighing I have made to cease.

³Therefore ^dmy loins are filled with pain;

^ePangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor.

I was ²distressed when I heard it;

I was dismayed when I saw it.

⁴My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me;

^fThe night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.

^5gPrepare the table,

Set a watchman in the tower,

Eat and drink.

Arise, you princes,

Anoint the shield!

⁶For thus has the Lord said to me:

“Go, set a watchman,

Let him declare what he sees.”

⁷And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen,

A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels,

And he listened earnestly with great care.

⁸³Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord!

I stand continually on the ^hwatchtower in the daytime;

I have sat at my post every night.

⁹And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!”

Then he answered and said,

ⁱ“Babylon is fallen, is fallen!

And ^jall the carved images of her gods

He has broken to the ground.”

^10kOh, my threshing and the grain of my floor!

That which I have heard from the Lord of hosts,

The God of Israel,

I have declared to you.

Proclamation Against Edom

^11lThe ⁴burden against Dumah.

He calls to me out of ^mSeir,

“Watchman, what of the night?

Watchman, what of the night?”

¹²The watchman said,

“The morning comes, and also the night.

If you will inquire, inquire;

Return! Come back!”

Proclamation Against Arabia

¹³ⁿThe ⁵burden against Arabia.

In the forest in Arabia you will lodge,

O you traveling companies ^oof Dedanites.

¹⁴O inhabitants of the land of Tema,

Bring water to him who is thirsty;

With their bread they met him who fled.

¹⁵For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword,

From the bent bow, and from the distress of war.

¹⁶For thus the Lord has said to me: “Within a year, ^paccording to the year of a hired man, all the glory of ^qKedar will fail; ¹⁷and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for the Lord God of Israel has spoken it.”