Isaiah 21

¹The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrible land.

²A stern vision is told to me;
the traitor betrays,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O Elam;
lay siege, O Media;
all the sighing she has caused
I bring to an end.

³Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
pangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

⁴My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
the twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.

⁵ They prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
oil the shield!

⁶For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
let him announce what he sees.

⁷When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”

⁸Then he who saw cried out:
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.

⁹And behold, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
And he answered,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the carved images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground.”

¹⁰O my threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.

¹¹The oracle concerning Dumah.
One is calling to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what time of the night?
Watchman, what time of the night?”

¹²The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
come back again.”

¹³The oracle concerning Arabia.
In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge,
O caravans of Dedanites.

¹⁴To the thirsty bring water;
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema.

¹⁵For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the press of battle.

¹⁶For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. ¹⁷And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”

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