1 Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon The 21:1 Or burden of oracle concerning the 21:1 Or sandy wastes, sea country wilderness of the sea.As whirlwinds in the 21:1 South country Negev sweep on,It comes from the wilderness, from a fearsome land.
2 A harsh vision has been declared to me;The treacherous onestilldeals treacherously, and the destroyerstilldestroys.Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media;I have made an end of all 21:2Lit her groaning the groaning she has caused.
3 For this reason my loins are full of anguish;Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor.I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.
4 My heart 21:4Lit wandered reels; 21:4Lit shuddering horror terrorizes me;The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.
5 They set the table, they 21:5Or spread out the rugs; or possibly they arranged the seating spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;“Rise up, commanders, oil the shields,”
6 For thus the Lord says to me,“Go, station the lookout, let him declare what he sees.
7 “Indeed, he shall see riders, horsemen in pairs,Riders of donkeys, riders of camels,So let him pay close attention, very close attention.”
8 Then 21:8As in DSS; M.T. he called like a lion the lookout called,“O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
9 “Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”And one answered and said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;And all the graven images of her gods 21:9Lit he has shattered to the earth are shattered on the ground.”
10 O my trampledpeopleand my 21:10Lit son afflicted of the threshing floor!What I have heard from Yahweh of hosts,The God of Israel, I have declared to you.Oracles Concerning Dumah and Arabia
11 The 21:11Or burden of oracle concerning 21:11Lit Silence; Gr Edom Dumah.One keeps calling to me from Seir,“Watchman, 21:11Lit what is the time of the night? how far gone is the night?Watchman, 21:11Lit what is the time of the night? how far gone is the night?”
12 The watchman says,“Morning comes but also night.If you would inquire, inquire;Come back again.”
13 The 21:13Or burden oracle about 21:13Or the desert Arabia.In the thickets of 21:13Or the desert Arabia you 21:13Or will spend must spend the night,O caravans of Dedanites.
14 Bring water to meet the thirsty,O inhabitants of the land of Tema,Meet with bread the one who has fled.
15 For they have fled from the swords,From the drawn sword, and from the bent bowAnd from the heaviness of battle.
16 For thus the Lord said to me, “In a year, as 21:16Lit the years of a hireling a hired man would count it, all the glory of Kedar will end;
17 and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken.”