The fall of Babylon

The fall of Babylon: its consequences for Judah

21 Oracle on the Wilderness

Like the roar of the whirlwind

that sweeps through the southland,

it comes from the desert,

that land of dread.

2 A vision full stern

has been told unto me:

the robber still robs,

the spoiler still spoils.

‘Go up, O Elam;

O media, lay siege:

all the sighs of the crushed

have I brought to an end.’

3 For this cause my loins

are filled with anguish;

with pangs am I seized

like a woman in travail.

I writhe with the message,

the vision confounds me.

4 My mind goes a-wandering,

horror appals me;

the twilight I love

has been turned into trembling.

5 The tables are ready,

the carpets are spread,

they are eating and drinking.

Arise, you princes,

spread oil on the shields.

6 For on this wise the Lord

has spoken to me:

‘Go, station a watchman

to tell what he sees.

7 If he sees a troop,

horsemen in pairs,

a train of asses,

a train of camels,

then let him give heed:

with most diligent heed.’

8 And the watchman cried,

‘On the watch-tower, O Lord,

do I stand all the day;

at my post am I stationed

the live-long night.

9 Lo! A troop I see coming,

of horsemen in pairs.’

And he uttered these words,

‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon:

down to the ground

fall her images shattered.’

10 you my folk who were threshed

like the corn of the floor,

I have told you my message

from Israel’s God,

from the Lord of Hosts.

The fall of Babylon: its consequences for the trading tribes of the desert!

11 Oracle of Edom

One calls to me out of Seir,

‘Watchman, how late in the night?

‘Watchman, how late in the night?’

12 The watchman made answer,

‘The morning approached,

but still it is night.

If you would enquire,

come hither again.’

13 Oracle ‘in the steppe’

In the bush, in the steppe, you must lodge for the night,

you caravans of Dedan.

14 You dwellers in Temas’s land,

bring water to meet the thirsty,

and offer the fugitives bread.

15 For before the sword they are fled,

before the whetted sword,

before the bow that is bent,

before the press of battle.

16 For thus has the Lord said unto me, ‘Within a year, no more and no less, will all the glory of 17 Kadar be at an end; and few will remain of the mighty archers of the Kedareness. The Lord the God of Israel has decreed it.’