Isaiah 21

¹The burden of the wilderness of the sea.

As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it cometh from the wilderness, from a terrible land. ²A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous man dealeth treacherously, and the destroyer destroyeth. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease. ³Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am pained so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see. ⁴My heart fluttereth, horror hath affrighted me; the twilight that I desired hath been turned into trembling unto me. ⁵They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink: rise up, ye princes, anoint the shield. ⁶For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman; let him declare what he seeth: ⁷and when he seeth a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of asses, a troop of camels, he shall hearken diligently with much heed. ⁸And he cried as a lion: O Lord, I stand continually upon the watch-tower in the day-time, and am set in my ward whole nights; ⁹and, behold, here cometh a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. And he answered and said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the graven images of her gods are broken unto the ground.

¹⁰O thou my threshing, and the grain of my floor! that which I have heard from Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

¹¹The burden of Dumah.

One calleth unto me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? ¹²The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: turn ye, come.

¹³The burden upon Arabia.

In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye caravans of Dedanites. ¹⁴Unto him that was thirsty they brought water; the inhabitants of the land of Tema did meet the fugitives with their bread. ¹⁵For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. ¹⁶For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail; ¹⁷and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be few; for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken it.