Isaiah 21

¹This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea:

Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev,

an invader comes from the desert,

from a land of terror.

²A dire vision is declared to me:

“The traitor still betrays,

and the destroyer still destroys.

Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media!

I will put an end to all her groaning.”

³Therefore my body is filled with anguish.

Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor.

I am bewildered to hear,

I am dismayed to see.

⁴My heart falters;

fear makes me tremble.

The twilight I desired

has turned to horror.

⁵They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet,

they eat, they drink!

Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!

⁶For this is what the Lord says to me:

“Go, post a lookout

and have him report what he sees.

⁷When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen,

riders on donkeys, riders on camels,

he must be alert, fully alert.”

⁸Then the lookout^a shouted:

“Day after day, my lord,

I stand on the watchtower;

night after night

I stay at my post.

⁹Look, here come the riders,

horsemen in pairs.”

And one answered, saying:

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon!^a

All the images of her gods

lie shattered on the ground!”

¹⁰O my people, crushed on the threshing floor,

I tell you what I have heard

from the LORD of Hosts,

the God of Israel.

¹¹This is the burden against Dumah:^a

One calls to me from Seir,^b

“Watchman, what is left of the night?

Watchman, what is left of the night?”

¹²The watchman replies,

“Morning has come, but also the night.

If you would inquire, then inquire.

Come back yet again.”

¹³This is the burden against Arabia:

In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge,

O caravans of Dedanites.

¹⁴Bring water for the thirsty,

O dwellers of Tema;

meet the refugees with food.

¹⁵For they flee from the sword—

the sword that is drawn—

from the bow that is bent,

and from the stress of battle.

¹⁶For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

¹⁷The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.”

For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.