21 A message for the wilderness beside the ocean:

It comes like whirlwinds sweeping through the desert,

coming from a nation that induces terror.

2 I’ve been given a distressing vision.

The deceitful deceive and the destroyer destroys.

Go up Elam. Lay siege, Media.

I’ll make all her groaning come to an end.

3 That’s why my stomach tightens.

Pangs of anguish seize me like a woman giving birth.

I’m stunned by what I hear.

≈ I’m terrified by what I see.

4 My heart falters—I’m overwhelmed and I shudder.

≈ The twilight that I longed for has turned into trembling.

5 They’re setting the table and spreading out the rugs.

They’re eating and drinking.

Take action you officials. Oil up your shields.

6 My master has told me to station a watchman who’ll tell what he sees. 7 When he sees a rider or a pair of horses, or someone riding a camel or a donkey, he must pay attention—very careful attention.

8 Then the watchman[fn] calls out,

“My master, I’ve stood day after day on this watchtower,

≈ and spent the nights stationed at my post, 9 so listen, a rider is coming with a pair of horses, and he brings the news that Babylon has fallen, yes fallen, and all its carved idols lie broken on the ground.”[ref]

10 Oh my down-trodden people who’ve been trampled all over.

I’ve passed on to you all what I heard from Yisrael’s god, Commander-in-chief Yahweh.