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Oracles concerning Babylon, Edom, and Arabia21 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. 2 A stern vision is told to me; the betrayer betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam, lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end. 3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear, I am dismayed so that I cannot see. 4 My mind reels, horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. 5 They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Rise up, commanders, oil the shield! 6 For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, post a lookout, let him announce what he sees. 7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.” 8 Then the watcher called out: “Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed throughout the night. 9 Look, there they come, riders, horsemen in pairs!” Then he responded, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground.” 10 O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the L ord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.
11 The oracle concerning Dumah.
One is calling to me from Seir, “Sentinel, what of the night? Sentinel, what of the night?” 12 The sentinel says: “Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again.”
13 The oracle concerning the desert plain.
In the scrub of the desert plain you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites. 14 Bring water to the thirsty, meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema. 15 For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the stress of battle. 16 For thus the Lord said to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end; 17and the remaining bows of Kedar’s warriors will be few; for the L ord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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14. To meet the thirsty bring waters. 7272 {Bogus footnote} He heightens the description of that trembling with which the Lord had determined to strike the Arabians in such a manner that they thought of nothing but flight, and did not take time even to collect those things which were necessary for the journey. Isaiah therefore declares that the Arabians will come into the country of Dedanim, empty and destitute of all things, and that they will not be provided with any food. On this account he exhorts the inhabitants to go out and meet them with bread and water, because otherwise they will faint through the want of the necessaries of life. I am aware that this passage is explained differently by some commentators, who think that the Prophet mocks at the Arabians, who had been cruel and barbarous towards the Jews; as if he had said, “How gladly you would now bring water to the thirsty!” But that exposition is too constrained. And yet I do not deny that they received the reward of their cruelty, when they ran hither and thither in a state of hunger. But the meaning which I have given is twofold, 7373 {Bogus footnote} that the Arabians in their flight will be so wretched that they will not even have the necessary supply of water, and they will therefore faint with thirst, if they do not quickly receive assistance; and he intimates that there will be a scarcity both of food and of drink. He calls on the neighbors to render assistance; not to exhort them to do their duty, but to state the fact more clearly; and he enjoins them to give their bread to them, not because it is deserved, but because they are suffering extreme want. Yet as it is founded on the common law of nature and humanity, the Prophet indirectly insinuates that the hungry and thirsty are defrauded of their bread, when food is denied to them. |