Prepare a table,(A) and spread out a carpet!
Eat and drink!
Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!
For the Lord has said to me,
“Go, post a lookout;
let him report what he sees.
When he sees riders—
pairs of horsemen,
riders on donkeys,
riders on camels—
he must pay close attention.”
Then the lookout[a] reported,
“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,(B)
and I stay at my post all night.
Look, riders come—
horsemen in pairs.”
And he answered, saying,
“Babylon has fallen,(C) has fallen.
All the images of her gods
have been shattered on the ground.”(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 21:8 DSS, Syr; MT reads Then a lion

They set the tables,
    they spread the rugs,
    they eat, they drink!(A)
Get up, you officers,
    oil the shields!(B)

This is what the Lord says to me:

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

And the lookout[a](F) shouted,

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

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 21:8 Dead Sea Scrolls and Syriac; Masoretic Text A lion