Isaiah 21:1-9 ▼

1 A message concerning the pasture by the Sea. |Like whirlwinds in the Negev sweep on, it comes from the desert, from a distant land.

2 A dire vision has been announced to me: the traitor betrays, and the plunderer takes loot. Get up, Elam! Attack, Media! I am putting a stop to all the groaning she has caused.

3 Therefore my body is racked with pain; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am so upset that I cannot hear; I am so frightened that I cannot see while I'm reeling around.

4 And as for my heart, horror has terrified me; the twilight I longed for has started to make me tremble.

5 They set the tables; they spread the carpets; they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers! Oil the shields!|

6 For this is what the LORD told me: |Go post a lookout. Have him report what he sees.

7 When he sees chariots, each man with a pair of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him pay attention, full attention.|

8 Then the lookout shouted: |Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and I am stationed at my post throughout the night.

9 Look! Here come riders, each man with a pair of horses!| They're shouting out the answer: |Babylon has fallen, has fallen, and they have shattered all the images of her gods on the ground!