< Isaiah 21 >
1 The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land.
2 A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam. Besiege, O Media, all the sighing of it I have made to cease.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish. Pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail. I am pained so that I cannot hear. I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4 My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling to me.
5 They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink. Rise up, ye rulers, anoint the shield.
6 For thus has the Lord said to me, Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.
7 and when he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall hearken diligently with much heed.
8 And he cried out as a lion, O Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and am set in my ward whole nights,
9 and, behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. And he answered and said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon. And all the graven images of her gods are broken to the ground.
10 O my threshing, and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.
11 The burden of Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
12 The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye; turn ye back, come.
13 The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia ye shall lodge, O ye caravans of Dedanites.
14 To him who was thirsty they brought water. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.
15 For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.
16 For thus the Lord has said to me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail.
17 And the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, shall be few. For Jehovah, the God of Israel, has spoken it.
