Isaiah 21:1-8 ▼

1 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As windstorms in the Negev sweep on, It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.

2 A harsh vision has been shown to me; The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media; I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused.

3 For this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.

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

5 They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; “Rise up, captains, oil the shields,”

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

7 “When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys, a train of camels, Let him pay close attention, very close attention.”

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