Isaiah 21:1-10
Modern English Version
A Prophecy Against Babylon
21 The oracle of the desert of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the Negev pass through,
so it comes from the desert,
from a terrible land.
2 A grievous vision is declared to me;
the treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, O Elam. Lay siege, O Media.
All her sighing I have made to cease.
3 Therefore, my loins are filled with pain;
pangs have taken hold of me as the pangs of a woman who travails.
I am so perplexed at the hearing of it;
I am so dismayed at the seeing of it.
4 My heart panted,
fearfulness overwhelmed me;
the night for which I longed
has turned into trembling for me.
5 Prepare the table,
watch in the watchtower,
eat and drink.
Arise, you princes,
and oil the shields.
6 For thus the Lord has said to me:
“Go, station a watchman;
let him declare what he sees.
7 When he sees chariots
with horsemen in pairs,
a chariot of donkeys,
and a chariot of camels,
then let him pay close attention,
very close attention.”
8 Then the watchman called:
“O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime,
and I am stationed at my guard post every night.
9 Look, here comes a chariot of men,
horsemen in pairs.”
And he answered and said,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon.
And all the graven images of her gods
lie shattered on the ground.”
10 O my threshed people and my afflicted of the threshing floor!
What I have heard from the Lord of Hosts,
the God of Israel,
I have declared to you.
Isaiah 21:1-10
Authorized (King James) Version
21 The burden of the desert of the sea.
As whirlwinds in the south pass through;
so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.
2 A grievous vision is declared unto me;
the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously,
and the spoiler spoileth.
Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media;
all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain:
pangs have taken hold upon me,
as the pangs of a woman that travaileth:
I was bowed down at the hearing of it;
I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me:
the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.
5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink:
arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.
6 For thus hath the Lord said unto me,
Go, set a watchman,
let him declare what he seeth.
7 And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen,
a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels;
and he hearkened diligently with much heed:
8 and he cried, A lion:
my lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime,
and I am set in my ward whole nights:
9 and, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen.
And he answered and said,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen;
and all the graven images of her gods
he hath broken unto the ground.
10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor:
that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
have I declared unto you.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.