Isaiah 21:1–10

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.