Isa 21 | LSB | STEP | The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negev sweep on, It comes from the wilderness, from a fearsome land.

Isaiah 21

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

1 The ^{▼▼Or burden of}oracle concerning the ^{▼▼Or sandy wastes, sea country}wilderness of the sea.

As whirlwinds in the ^{▼▼South country}Negev sweep on,
It comes from the wilderness, from a fearsome land.
2 A harsh vision has been declared 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 ^{▼▼Lit her groaning}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 heart ^{▼▼Lit wandered}reels; ^{▼▼Lit shuddering}horror terrorizes me;
The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.
5 They set the table, they ^{▼▼Or spread out the rugs; or possibly they arranged the seating}spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, commanders, oil the shields,”
6 For thus the Lord says to me,

“Go, station the lookout, let him declare what he sees.
7 “Indeed, he shall see riders, horsemen in pairs,
Riders of donkeys, riders of camels,
So let him pay close attention, very close attention.”
8 Then ^{▼▼As in DSS; M.T. he called like a lion}the lookout called,

“O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
9 “Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one answered and said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the graven images of her gods ^{▼▼Lit he has shattered to the earth}are shattered on the ground.”
10 O my trampled people and my ^{▼▼Lit son}afflicted of the threshing floor!
What I have heard from Yahweh of hosts,
The God of Israel, I have declared to you.

Oracles Concerning Dumah and Arabia

11 The ^{▼▼Or burden of}oracle concerning ^{▼▼Lit Silence; Gr Edom}Dumah.

One keeps calling to me from Seir,
“Watchman, ^{▼▼Lit what is the time of the night?}how far gone is the night?
Watchman, ^{▼▼Lit what is the time of the night?}how far gone is the night?”
12 The watchman says,
“Morning comes but also night.
If you would inquire, inquire;
Come back again.”

13 The ^{▼▼Or burden}oracle about ^{▼▼Or the desert}Arabia.

In the thickets of ^{▼▼Or the desert}Arabia you ^{▼▼Or will spend}must spend the night,
O caravans of Dedanites.
14 Bring water to meet the thirsty,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema,
Meet with bread the one who has fled.
15 For they have fled from the swords,
From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow
And from the heaviness of battle.
16 For thus the Lord said to me, “In a year, as ^{▼▼Lit the years of a hireling}a hired man would count it, all the glory of Kedar will end; 17 and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken.”