Open English Translation ISA Chapter 21

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.

11 A message for Dumah:

Someone’s calling me from Edom, “Watchman, how long will it be before the night is over?”

12 “The morning’s coming but also the next night. If you all want to ask, ask now, then come back again later.”

13 A message for Arabia:

You’ll all overnight in Arabia’s forest, you Dedanite caravans.

14 Bring water out to meet the thirsty.

You who live in Tema bring some food for the fugitives

15 because they’ve fled from the approaching army with their swords held out in front of them,

≈ and from the taut bows and from the stress of battle.

16 Yahweh told me that in exactly one year from now,

≈ like the end of the labourer’s contract,

all the greatness of Kedar in Arabia will come to an end.

17 Only a few of Kedar’s archers will remain from their warriors,

because Yisrael’s god Yahweh has spoken.