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
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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