Isaiah 21
21
A Message about Babylon
1This message came to me concerning Babylon—the desert by the sea#21:1 Hebrew concerning the desert by the sea.:
Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert,
like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev.
2I see a terrifying vision:
I see the betrayer betraying,
the destroyer destroying.
Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes,
attack and lay siege.
I will make an end
to all the groaning Babylon caused.
3My stomach aches and burns with pain.
Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me,
like those of a woman in labor.
I grow faint when I hear what God is planning;
I am too afraid to look.
4My mind reels and my heart races.
I longed for evening to come,
but now I am terrified of the dark.
5Look! They are preparing a great feast.
They are spreading rugs for people to sit on.
Everyone is eating and drinking.
But quick! Grab your shields and prepare for battle.
You are being attacked!
6Meanwhile, the Lord said to me,
“Put a watchman on the city wall.
Let him shout out what he sees.
7He should look for chariots
drawn by pairs of horses,
and for riders on donkeys and camels.
Let the watchman be fully alert.”
8Then the watchman#21:8 As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Syriac version; Masoretic Text reads a lion. called out,
“Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord.
Night after night I have remained at my post.
9Now at last—look!
Here comes a man in a chariot
with a pair of horses!”
Then the watchman said,
“Babylon is fallen, fallen!
All the idols of Babylon
lie broken on the ground!”
10O my people, threshed and winnowed,
I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said,
everything the God of Israel has told me.
A Message about Edom
11This message came to me concerning Edom#21:11a Hebrew Dumah, which means “silence” or “stillness.” It is a wordplay on the word Edom.:
Someone from Edom#21:11b Hebrew Seir, another name for Edom. keeps calling to me,
“Watchman, how much longer until morning?
When will the night be over?”
12The watchman replies,
“Morning is coming, but night will soon return.
If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.”
A Message about Arabia
13This message came to me concerning Arabia:
O caravans from Dedan,
hide in the deserts of Arabia.
14O people of Tema,
bring water to these thirsty people,
food to these weary refugees.
15They have fled from the sword,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow
and the terrors of battle.
16The Lord said to me, “Within a year, counting each day,#21:16 Hebrew Within a year, as a servant bound by contract would count it. Some ancient manuscripts read Within three years, as in 16:14. all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. 17Only a few of its courageous archers will survive. I, the Lord, the God of Israel, have spoken!”
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Isaiah 21: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Isaiah 21
21
God Commands That Babylon Be Taken
1The [mournful, inspired] oracle (#I.e. an urgent message the prophet is under compulsion to proclaim.a burden to be carried) concerning the Desert of the #Probably a reference to the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and their tributaries which overflowed their banks like a sea. Great dams were constructed to control their floodwaters.Sea (the seasonally flooded plains just south of Babylon):
As windstorms in the Negev (the South) sweep through,
So it (God’s judgment) comes from the desert, from [the hostile armies of] a terrifying land.
2A harsh vision has been shown to me;
The treacherous one deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media!
All the groaning [caused by Babylon’s ruthless oppressions] I [the Lord] have brought to an end.
3Therefore [continues Isaiah] my loins are filled with anguish;
Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in childbirth;
I am so bent and bewildered that I cannot hear, I am so terrified that I cannot see.
4My mind reels, horror overwhelms me;
The twilight I longed for has been #The vision reveals the events to occur at the feast of Belshazzar—the defilement of the golden articles taken from God’s temple, the handwriting on the wall, the murder of Babylon’s great king.turned into fear and trembling for me.
5They set the table [for the doomed banquet], they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, captains [of Belshazzar’s court], oil your shields [for battle, for your enemy is at the gates]!”
6This is what the Lord says to me,
“Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.
7When he sees a chariot, horsemen in pairs,
A train of donkeys and a train of camels,
Let him pay attention and listen closely, very closely.”
8And the lookout called like a lion,
“O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower by day,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
9Now look! Here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the carved images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
10O my threshed people [Judah, who must be judged and trampled down by Babylon], my afflicted of the threshing floor.
What I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel, I have [joyfully] announced to you [that Babylon is to fall].
Oracles about Edom and Arabia
11The [mournful, inspired] oracle (#I.e. an urgent message the prophet is under compulsion to proclaim.a burden to be carried) concerning Dumah (Edom):
Someone keeps calling to me from Seir (Edom),
“Watchman, what is left of the night [of Assyrian oppression]?
Watchman, what is left of the night? [How long until morning?]”
12The watchman says,
“The morning comes [only briefly], but also [comes] the night [of Babylonian oppression].
If you would ask [of me then], ask [again, if Edom really wishes to know];
Come back again.”
13The [mournful, inspired] oracle (#I.e. an urgent message the prophet is under compulsion to proclaim.a burden to be carried) concerning Arabia:
In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night,
Caravans of Dedanites.
14Bring water for the thirsty [Dedanites],
O inhabitants of the land of Tema [in Arabia];
Meet the fugitive with bread.
15For they have fled from the swords,
From the drawn sword, from the bent bow
And from the press of battle and grief of war.
16For the Lord has said this to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired man [who will work no longer than was agreed], all the splendor of [the tribe of] Kedar will end; 17and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
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