Isaiah 21

1 The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.

The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the south, it cometh from the desert from a terrible land.

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.

A grievous vision is told me: he that is unfaithful dealeth unfaithfully: and he that is a spoiler, spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease.

3 Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I cannot hear. I am so dismayed that I cannot see.

Therefore are my loins filled with pain, anguish hath taken hold of me, as the anguish of a woman in labour: I fell down at the hearing of it, I was troubled at the seeing of it.

4 My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me.

My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me.

5 They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!

Prepare the table, behold in the watchtower them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield.

6 For the Lord said to me, “Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.

For thus hath the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman: and whatsoever he shall see, let him tell.

7 When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness.”

And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed.

8 He cried like a lion: “Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post.

And a lion cried out: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day: and I am upon my ward, standing whole nights.

9 Behold, 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.

Behold this man cometh, the rider upon the chariot with two horsemen, and he answered, and said: Babylon is fallen, she is fallen, and all the graven gods thereof are broken unto the ground.

10 You are my threshing, and the grain of my floor!” That which I have heard from the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.

O my thrashing and the children of my door, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you.

11 The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”

The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the eight? watchman, what of the night?

12 The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again.”

The watchman said: The morning cometh, also the night: if you seek, seek: return, come.

13 The burden on Arabia. You will lodge in the thickets in Arabia, you caravans of Dedanites.

The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dedanim.

14 They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.

Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land of the south, meet with bread him that fleeth.

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

For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle.

16 For the Lord said to me, “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail,

For thus saith the Lord to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away.

17 and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”

And the residue of the number of strong archers of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord the God of Israel hath spoken it.