Isaiah 21
21
Chapter 21
A message about Babylon
1This is a message about the desert near the sea.
Trouble is coming from the desert, like a strong wind that blows from the south. It comes from a land of great fear.
2The Lord showed me a vision of terrible things.
‘People are deceiving one another!
People are destroying one another!
Elam, go to attack Babylon!
People from Media, attack all round the city!
I will stop all the tears that Babylon's armies have caused.’
3Because of that vision, I am very upset. Bad pains attack me, like the pains of a woman who is giving birth. My body hurts because of the things that I have heard. I am afraid to look! 4It confuses my mind. I shake with fear. I wanted a quiet evening, but instead there is terror.
5Look! They are preparing a feast. They put down carpets for people to sit on. They are eating and they are drinking. Officers, stand up! Make your shields ready for battle!
6This is what the Lord God has said to me:
‘Go! Put someone on the city wall to watch.
Tell him to report what he sees.
7If he sees chariots that two horses are pulling,
or riders on donkeys,
or riders on camels,
he must watch very carefully.’
8Then the guard shouted, ‘Lord God, I am standing every day on the tower where I watch. I stand at my place every night. 9And look! Something is coming! It is a chariot that two horses are pulling!’ The rider reports, ‘An enemy has completely destroyed Babylon! All the idols of its people's gods lie in pieces on the ground!’
10Yes, my people, Babylon's army has hurt you very much. But now I have reported to you the message from the Lord Almighty, Israel's God.
A message about Edom
11This is a message about Dumah.
Someone is shouting to me from Seir. #21:11 Dumah and Seir are other names for Edom. They are asking, ‘Guard, how soon will the night finish? Please tell me.’
12The guard replies, ‘The morning will come soon. But the night will quickly follow. If you want to ask again, then come back. Come and ask!’
A message about Arabia
13This is a message about Arabia.
Traders from Dedan, you put up your tents in Arabia's wilderness. 14You must bring some water for the thirsty people to drink. You people who live in Tema, bring food to give to the hungry people who are running away from danger. #21:14 Dedan and Tema were towns in Arabia. 15They are running away from the weapons of war. They are running from the swords, bows and arrows of a dangerous battle.
16This is what the Lord God has said to me: ‘In one year's time, all Kedar's glory will have gone. Count every day, as if you are working to receive money. 17Only a few of Kedar's brave soldiers will remain, with their bows and arrows.’
That is what the Lord, Israel's God, has said.
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Isaiah 21: EASY
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Isaiah 21
21
1The burden of the wilderness of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land. 2A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media’s sighing. 3Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can’t hear. I am so dismayed that I can’t see. 4My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me. 5They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield! 6For the Lord said to me, “Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees. 7When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness.” 8He cried like a lion: “Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post. 9Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.
10You are my threshing, and the grain of my floor!” That which I have heard from Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.
11The burden of Dumah.
One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” 12The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again.”
13The burden on Arabia.
You will lodge in the thickets in Arabia, you caravans of Dedanites. 14They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread. 15For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle. 16For the Lord said to me, “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail, 17and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”
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