Isaiah 21:1-12 ▼

1 The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning the Desert of the Sea (the seasonally flooded plains just south of Babylon): As windstorms in the Negev (the South) sweep through, So it (God’s judgment) comes from the desert, from [the hostile armies of] a terrifying land.

2 A harsh vision has been shown to me; The treacherous one deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media! All the groaning [caused by Babylon’s ruthless oppressions] I [the LORD] have brought to an end.

3 Therefore [continues Isaiah] my loins are filled with anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in childbirth; I am so bent and bewildered that I cannot hear, I am so terrified that I cannot see.

4 My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned into fear and trembling for me.

5 They set the table [for the doomed banquet], they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; “Rise up, captains [of Belshazzar’s court], oil your shields [for battle, for your enemy is at the gates]!”

6 This is what the Lord says to me, “Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.

7 “When he sees a chariot, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys and a train of camels, Let him pay attention and listen closely, very closely.”

8 And the lookout called like a lion, “O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower by day, And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

9 “Now look! Here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the carved images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”

10 O my threshed people [Judah, who must be judged and trampled down by Babylon], my afflicted of the threshing floor. What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I have [joyfully] announced to you [that Babylon is to fall].

11 The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Dumah (Edom): Someone keeps calling to me from Seir (Edom), “Watchman, what is left of the night [of Assyrian oppression]? Watchman, what is left of the night? [How long until morning?]”

12 The watchman says, “The morning comes [only briefly], but also [comes] the night [of Babylonian oppression]. If you would ask [of me then], ask [again, if Edom really wishes to know]; Come back again.”