Isaiah 21
1 The oracle of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negev sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.
有關瀚海的神諭：猶如風暴由南方掃來；同樣，仇敵將由沙漠，由可怕之地而來。
2 A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack. I have stopped all of Media's sighing.
一悽慘的神視顯示給我：搶奪的盡量搶奪，破壞的盡量破壞。厄藍，上前！瑪待，圍攻！我要結束所有的嘆息！
3 Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have taken hold on me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can't hear. I so am dismayed that I can't see.
為此我的兩腰滿是酸痛，侵襲我的劇痛無異產婦的痛苦；我惶亂得不能再聽，我昏迷得不能再看。
4 My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me.
我的心神錯亂了，恐怖驟然襲擊了我；我所渴望的黃昏，為我反成了恐怖。
5 They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield.
盛宴已擺，華毯已舖，人們正在吃喝之際：「將帥們！起來！用油擦盾！」
6 For the LORD said to me, "Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.
因為吾主對我這樣說：「去！派置一個警衛，叫他報告他所見的！
7 When he sees chariots, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently."
當他見到騎兵隊、一對一對的馬兵、驢隊和駱駝隊時，他要注意，要多多注意！」
8 Then the lookout shouted: "Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post.
守望者喊叫：「吾主！我整日站在瞭望台上，長夜鵠立在我的守望所。
9 Look, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs." He answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.
看哪！來了一隊人馬，一對一對的騎兵！」有一個喊叫說：「陷落了！巴比倫陷落了！她所有的神像也都摔碎在地！」
10 You are 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.
我那被碾軋的百姓，我那禾場上的子民！凡是我由萬軍的上主，以色列的天主所聽到的，我都告訴了你們。
11 The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?"
有關厄東的神諭：從色依爾有人向我喊叫說：「警衛！夜已何時了﹖夜已何時了﹖」
12 The watchman said, "The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again."
警衛答說：「黎明已至，然而仍是黑夜；如果你們仍要詢問，詢問罷！再來一次！」
13 The burden on Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, you caravans of Dedanites.
有關荒野的神諭：你們在森林中，在荒野裏過宿罷！德丹的商旅，
14 They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.
請攜水出來迎接口渴的人！特瑪地的居民，請備糧接待逃難的人！
15 For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle.
因為他們出逃，是由於面臨刀劍，面臨出鞘的刀劍，面臨已張的弓弩，面臨激烈的戰爭。
16 For the LORD said to me, "Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, the glory of Kedar will fail,
上主曾這樣對我說：「照僱工的年限計，還有三年，刻達爾所有的榮耀都要完結；
17 and the residue of the number of the archers, the warriors of the people of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken it."
刻達爾子民的英勇弓手人數，剩下的很少。」因為上主以色列的天主，早就這樣說了。
