RSV Isaiah 21 Chapter
21:1
The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.
21:2
A stern vision is told to me;the plunderer plunders, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam, lay siege, O Media;all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.
21:3
Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in travail;I am bowed down so that I cannot hear, I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
21:4
My mind reels, horror has appalled me;the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.
21:5
They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes, oil the shield!
21:6
For thus the Lord said to me: 'Go, set a watchman, let him announce what he sees.
21:7
When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on asses, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.'
21:8
Then he who saw cried: 'Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights.
21:9
And, behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!' And he answered, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon;and all the images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.'
21:10
O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.
21:11
The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Se'ir, 'Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?'
21:12
The watchman says: 'Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire;come back again.'
21:13
The oracle concerning Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of De'danites.
21:14
To the thirsty bring water, meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema.
21:15
For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle.
21:16
For thus the Lord said to me, 'Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end;
21:17
and the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few;for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.'