Study

21. Prophecy Against Babylon

   Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland,
   an invader comes from the desert,
   from a land of terror.

    ² A dire vision has been shown to me:
   The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.
Elam, attack! Media, lay siege!
   I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.

    ³ At this my body is racked with pain,
   pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;
I am staggered by what I hear,
   I am bewildered by what I see.
⁴ My heart falters,
   fear makes me tremble;
the twilight I longed for
   has become a horror to me.

    ⁵ They set the tables,
   they spread the rugs,
   they eat, they drink!
Get up, you officers,
   oil the shields!

    ⁶ This is what the Lord says to me:

   “Go, post a lookout
   and have him report what he sees.
⁷ When he sees chariots
   with teams of horses,
riders on donkeys
   or riders on camels,
let him be alert,
   fully alert.”

    ⁸ And the lookout Dead Sea Scrolls and Syriac; Masoretic Text A lion shouted,

   “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;
   every night I stay at my post.
⁹ Look, here comes a man in a chariot
   with a team of horses.
And he gives back the answer:
   ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen!
All the images of its gods
   lie shattered on the ground!’”

    ¹⁰ My people who are crushed on the threshing floor,
   I tell you what I have heard
from the LORD Almighty,
   from the God of Israel.

A Prophecy Against Edom

    ¹¹ A prophecy against Dumah Dumah, a wordplay on Edom, means silence or stillness.:

   Someone calls to me from Seir,
   “Watchman, what is left of the night?
   Watchman, what is left of the night?”
¹² The watchman replies,
   “Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask;
   and come back yet again.”

A Prophecy Against Arabia

    ¹³ A prophecy against Arabia:

   You caravans of Dedanites,
   who camp in the thickets of Arabia,
    ¹⁴ bring water for the thirsty;
you who live in Tema,
   bring food for the fugitives.
¹⁵ They flee from the sword,
   from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow
   and from the heat of battle.

    ¹⁶ This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end. ¹⁷ The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.