Isaiah 21

As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,

it comes from the wilderness,

from a terrible land.

₂A stern vision is told to me;

the traitor betrays,

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 labor;

I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;

I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

₄My heart staggers; 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 donkeys, riders on camels,

let him listen diligently,

very diligently.”

₈Then he who saw cried out:

“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 carved 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.

One is calling to me from Seir,

“Watchman, what time of the night?

Watchman, what time of the night?”

₁₂The watchman says:

“Morning comes, and also the night.

If you will inquire, inquire;

come back again.”

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.