Isaiah 21
21
God’s Message to Babylon
1The message about the Desert by the Sea:# Probably Babylon.
Disaster is coming from the desert.
It is coming like wind blowing in the south.
It is coming from a terrible country.
2I have seen a terrible vision.
I see traitors turning against you.
I see people taking your wealth.
Elam, attack the people!
Media, surround the city and attack it!
I will bring an end to the pain the city causes.
3I saw those terrible things, and now I am in pain.
My pains are like the pains of giving birth.
What I hear makes me very afraid.
What I see causes me to shake with fear.
4I am worried,
and I am shaking with fear.
My pleasant evening
has become a night of fear.
5They set the table.
They spread the rugs.
They eat and drink!
Leaders, stand up.
Prepare the shields for battle!
6The Lord said to me,
“Go. Have a man be a lookout for the city.
Have him report what he sees.
7If he sees chariots and teams of horses,
donkeys or camels,
he should pay very close attention.”
8Then the lookout called out,
“My Master, each day I stand in the watchtower watching.
Every night I have been on guard.
9Look. I see a man coming in a chariot
with a team of horses.”
The man gives back the answer,
“Babylon has fallen. It has fallen!
All the statues of her gods
lie broken on the ground.”
10My people are crushed like grain on the threshing floor.
My people, I tell you what I have heard from the Lord.
He is the Lord of heaven’s armies,
the God of Israel.
God’s Message to Edom
11The message about Dumah:# Another name for Edom.
Someone calls to me from Edom.
He says, “Watchman, how much of the night is left?
Watchman, how much longer will it be night?”
12The watchman answered,
“Morning is coming, but then night will come again.
If you have something to ask,
then come back and ask.”
God’s Message to Arabia
13The message about Arabia:
A group of traders from Dedan
spent the night near some trees in Arabia.
14They gave water to thirsty travelers.
The people of Tema gave food
to those who were escaping.
15They were running from swords.
The swords were ready to kill.
They were running from bows ready to shoot.
They were running from a hard battle.
16This is what the Lord said to me: “In one year all the glory of the country of Kedar will be gone. (This is a year as a hired helper counts time.) 17At that time only a few of the archers will be left. Only a few of the soldiers of Kedar will be left alive.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
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Isaiah 21: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Isaiah 21
21
XXI
1THE ORACLE CONCERNING THE DESERT OF THE SEA.
Like the southern tempests violently rushing along,
From the desert he cometh, from a terrible land.
2A dreadful vision hath been revealed unto me:
The plunderer plundereth, and the spoiler spoileth!
Go up, O Elam; form the siege, O Media!
All her sighing have I made to cease.
3Therefore are my loins filled with dreadful pain;
Pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail:
I am convulsed, so that I cannot hear; I am astonished, so that I cannot see.
4My heart is bewildered; terror hath come upon me:
The night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.
5The table is prepared, the watch is set; they eat, they drink;
Arise, ye princes; anoint the shield.
6For thus hath the Lord said unto me:
Go, set a watchman on his station;
What he shall see, he shall report.
7And he beheld riders, a couple of horsemen,
Riders on asses, riders on camels:
And he hearkened diligently with much heed.
8Then he cried out like a lion:
O my lord, I keep my station on the watch all the day long;
And on my ward have I continued every night.
9And, behold, there come men riding, a couple of horsemen.
Then he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen;
And all the sculptured images of her gods have they broken in pieces against the ground.
10O my threshing, and the corn of my floor!
What I have heard of Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel,
That I have declared unto you.
11THE ORACLE CONCERNING DOMAH.
A voice crieth unto me from 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: come again and again.
13THE ORACLE AGAINST ARABIA.
In the thickets of Arabia shall ye lodge,
O ye travelling companies of Dedan!
14To meet the thirsty they brought water,
They the inhabitants of the land of Tema;
With his bread they approached the wanderer.
15For from the face of the sword have they fled,
From the face of the drawn sword;
And from the face of the bended bow;
And from the face of the grievousness of war.
16For thus hath the Lord said unto me:
Within yet a year, as the years of a hireling,
All the glory of Kedar shall fail:
17And the residue of the number of the mighty bow men of the sons of Kedar, shall be diminished:
For Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken it.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.