Isa 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 its sighing have
I made to cease.
3
Therefore are my loins 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, you princes,
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 asses, a troop of camels,
he shall hearken diligently with much heed.
8
And he cried as a lion: O Lord, I stand continually upon the watch-tower in the day-time,
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 you my threshing, and the grain of my floor! that which I have heard from YHWH of
hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared to you.
11
The burden of Dumah. One 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 you will inquire, inquire
you: turn you, come.
13
The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall you lodge, O you caravans of
Dedanites.
14
To him whom was thirsty they brought water; the inhabitants of the land of Tema did
meet 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 has the Lord 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 children of Kedar,
shall be few; for YHWH, the God of Israel, has spoken it.