CHAPTER 21
This is an oracle
concerning the Desert
by the Sea:
Like whirlwinds
sweeping
through the Negev,
an invader comes
from the desert,
from a land
of terror.
A dire
vision
is declared
to me:
“The traitor
still betrays,
and the destroyer
still destroys.
Go up,
O Elam!
Lay siege,
O Media!
I will put an end
to all
her groaning.”
Therefore
my body
is filled
with anguish.
Pain
grips me,
like the pains
of a woman in labor.
I am bewildered
to hear,
I am dismayed
to see.
They prepare
a table,
they lay out
a carpet,
they eat,
they drink!
Rise up,
O princes,
oil
the shields!
When he sees
chariots
with teams
of horsemen,
riders
on donkeys,
riders
on camels,
he must be alert,
fully
alert.”
Then the lookout
shouted,
“Day
after day,
O lord,
I
stand
on
the watchtower;
night after
night
I
stay
at
my post.
Look,
here
come
the riders,
horsemen
in pairs.”
And one answered,
saying,
“Fallen,
fallen is
Babylon!
All
the images
of her gods
lie shattered
on the ground.”
O My people,
crushed
on the threshing floor,
I tell
you
what
I have heard
from
the LORD
of Hosts,
the God
of Israel.
This is an oracle
concerning Dumah:
One calls
to me
from Seir,
“Watchman,
what is left
of the night?
Watchman,
what is left
of the night?”
The watchman
replies,
“Morning
has come,
but also
the night.
If
you would inquire,
then inquire!
Come back
yet again.”
This is an oracle
concerning Arabia:
In the thickets
of Arabia
you must lodge,
O caravans
of Dedanites.
For
they flee
from
the sword,
the sword
that is drawn,
from
the bow
that is bent,
and from
the stress
of battle.
For
this is what
the Lord
says
to me:
“Within one year,
as a hired worker
would count it,
all
the glory
of Kedar
will be gone.
The remaining
archers,
the warriors
of Kedar,
will be few.”
For
the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
has spoken.