Isaiah 21

1An oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea: like whirlwinds in the Negev sweeping through, it comes from the wilderness, from a fearful land.

2A harsh vision has been declared to me: the betrayer betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; lay siege, Media. I have put an end to all her groaning.

3Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pains have seized me like the pains of a woman giving birth. I am bent over from hearing; I am dismayed from seeing.

4My heart reels; shuddering terrifies me. The twilight I longed for he has turned into terror for me.

5They set the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Rise up, princes; oil the shield.

6For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, station the watchman; let him report what he sees.”

7And he saw riders, pairs of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels; and he listened intently, with great attentiveness.

8Then he cried, “A lion! On the watchtower, my lord, I stand continually by day, and at my post I am stationed all the nights.”

9And look, here comes a chariot, a man with a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.”

10O my threshed one, and son of my threshing floor, what I have heard from Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.

11An oracle concerning Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”

12The watchman says, “Morning comes, and also night. If you would inquire, inquire; return, come.”

13An oracle concerning Arabia: In the forest in Arabia you will spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites.

14Bring water to meet the thirsty; O inhabitants of the land of Tema, meet the fugitive with bread.

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

16For thus the Lord said to me: Within a year, like the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.

17And the remainder of the number of the bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken.