Isaiah 21
21
God’s Message About Babylon
1This is a message#21:1 message Or “burden.” Also in verses 11, 13. about the “desert by the sea”#21:1 the desert by the sea Probably Babylon.:
It is coming like a storm blowing through the Negev.
It is coming in from the desert, from a frightening nation.
2I was given a vision of the hard times to come.
I see traitors turning against you.
I see people taking your wealth.
Elam, go against them!
Media, surround the city!
I will put an end to all their moaning.
3I saw those terrible things, and now I am afraid.
My fear makes my stomach hurt like the pain of giving birth.
What I hear frightens me.
What I see makes me shake with fear.
4I am worried and shaking with fear.
My pleasant evening has become a nightmare.
5People are rushing around shouting their orders:
“Set the table!
Post the guard!
Get something to eat and drink!
Officers, get up!
Polish your shields!”
6The Lord said to me, “Go find someone to guard this city. He must report whatever he sees. 7Whether he sees a chariot and a team of horses or men riding donkeys or camels, he must listen carefully.”#21:7 Or “Whether he sees a column of teams of horsemen, columns of donkeys, or columns of camels, he must listen carefully.”
8Then one day the watchman#21:8 the watchman “the seer,” an ancient title for a prophet. The standard Hebrew text has “a lion.” called out,
“My master, every day I have been in the watchtower#21:8 watchtower A tall building where guards stood and watched to see if anyone was coming near their city. watching.
Every night I have been standing on duty.
9Look! I see a man in a chariot
with a team of horses.#21:9 a man … horses Or “a column of teams of horsemen.” This might be a team of horses pulling a war chariot or mounted archers in the Assyrian army who often worked in pairs.”
The messenger said,
“Babylon has been defeated!
It has fallen to the ground!
All the statues of her false gods
were thrown to the ground and broken to pieces.”
10My people, you will be like the grain crushed on my threshing floor. I have told you everything I heard from the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel.
God’s Message About Dumah
11This is a message about Dumah#21:11 Dumah This Hebrew word means “silence.” It may refer to Edom or to a city in Arabia.:
There is someone calling to me from Seir,#21:11 Seir A mountain in Edom or a city in Arabia.
“Guard, how much of the night is left?
How much longer will it be night?”
12The guard answered,
“Morning is coming, but then night will come again.
If you have something else to ask,
then come back#21:12 come back This can also mean “change your heart” or “repent.” later and ask.”
God’s Message About Arabia
13This is a message about Arabia:
A caravan from Dedan spent the night
near some trees in the Arabian Desert.
14They gave water to some thirsty travelers.
The people of Tema gave them food.
15They were running from swords
that were ready to kill.
They were running from bows
that were ready to shoot.
They were running from a hard battle.
16The Lord told me this would happen. He said, “In one year, the way a hired helper counts time, all Kedar’s glory will be gone. 17Only a few of the archers, the great soldiers of Kedar, will be left alive.” The Lord, the God of Israel, told me this.
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Isaiah 21: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Isaiah 21
21
1The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the desert,
from a terrible land.
2A 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.
3Therefore 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.
4My mind reels, horror has appalled me;
the twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
5They prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes,
oil the shield!
6For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman,
let him announce what he sees.
7When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on asses, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”
8Then he who saw#21.8 One ancient Ms: Heb a lion cried:
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.
9And 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.”
10O my threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.
11The oracle concerning Dumah.
One is calling to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?”
12The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
come back again.”
13The oracle concerning Arabia.
In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge,
O caravans of Dedanites.
14To the thirsty bring water,
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema.
15For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the press of battle.
16For 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; 17and 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.”
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America