Isaiah, Chapter 21

1. The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.    2. A severe vision is declared to me; the treacherous deals treacherously, and the plunderer plunderers. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.    3. Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in birth labor: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.    4. My heart panted, fearfulness terrified me: the night of my pleasure has he turned into fear for me.    5. Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, you princes, and oil the shield.    6. For thus has the Lord said to me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he sees.    7. And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels; and he listened diligently with much attention:    8. And he cried out, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my post whole nights:    9. And, behold, here comes a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the sculptured images of her gods he has broken to the ground.    10. O my threshing, and the grain of my floor: that which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared to you.    11. The burden of Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?    12. The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night: if you will inquire, inquire: turn back, and come.    13. The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall you lodge, O you traveling companies of Dedanim.    14. The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they met with their bread him that fled.    15. For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the distress of war.    16. For thus has the Lord said to me, Within a year, according to the years of a wage earner, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:    17. And the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel has spoken it.