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21. Prophecy Against Babylon

¹ A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea:

   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.

15. For they flee from the face of the swords. ⁷⁴⁷⁴ {Bogus footnote} He means that the calamity will be dreadful, and that the Arabians will have good reason for betaking themselves to flight, because the enemies will pursue them with arms and with swords, so that they will have no other way of providing for their safety than by flight. The reason why he foretells this defeat is plain enough; for it was necessary that the Jews should obtain early information of that which should happen long after, that they might learn that the world is governed by the providence of God and not by chance, and likewise that they should be taught by the example of others to behold God as the judge of all nations, wherever they turned their eyes. We do not know, and history does not inform us, whether or not the Arabians were enemies of the Jews. However that may be, it is certain that these things are spoken for the consolation of the godly, that they may behold the justice of God towards all nations, and may acknowledge that his judgment-seat is at Jerusalem, from which he will pronounce judgment on the whole world.