Isaiah 21

¹The burden of the wilderness of the sea. ‘Like hurricanes in the south for passing through, From the wilderness it hath come, From a fearful land. ²A hard vision hath been declared to me, The treacherous dealer is dealing treacherously, And the destroyer is destroying. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Media, All its sighing I have caused to cease. ³Therefore filled have been my loins with great pain, Pangs have seized me as pangs of a travailing woman, I have been bent down by hearing, I have been troubled by seeing. ⁴Wandered hath my heart, trembling hath terrified me, The twilight of my desire He hath made a fear to me, ⁵Arrange the table, watch in the watch-tower, Eat, drink, rise, ye heads, anoint the shield, ⁶For thus said the Lord unto me: ‘Go, station the watchman, That which he seeth let him declare.’ ⁷And he hath seen a chariot—a couple of horsemen, The rider of an ass, the rider of a camel, And he hath given attention—He hath increased attention! ⁸And he crieth—a lion, ‘On a watch-tower my lord, I am standing continually by day, And on my ward I am stationed whole nights. ⁹And lo, this, the chariot of a man is coming, A couple of horsemen.’ And he answereth and saith: ‘Fallen, fallen hath Babylon, And all the graven images of her gods He hath broken to the earth. ¹⁰O my threshing, and the son of my floor, That which I heard from Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, I have declared to you!’

¹¹The burden of Dumah. Unto me is one calling from Seir ‘Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?’ ¹²The watchman hath said, ‘Come hath morning, and also night, If ye inquire, inquire ye, turn back, come.’

¹³The burden on Arabia. In a forest in Arabia ye lodge, O travellers of Dedanim. ¹⁴To meet the thirsty brought water have Inhabitants of the land of Tema, With his bread they came before a fugitive. ¹⁵For from the face of destructions they fled, From the face of a stretched-out sword, And from the face of a trodden bow, And from the face of the grievousness of battle. ¹⁶For thus said the Lord unto me: ‘Within a year, as years of a hireling, Consumed hath been all the honour of Kedar. ¹⁷And the remnant of the number of bow-men, The mighty of the sons of Kedar are few, For Jehovah, God of Israel, hath spoken!’

Chapter 22