Isaiah 21:1-10

New Century Version

Disaster is coming from the desert
    like wind blowing in the south.
    It is coming from a terrible country.
² I have seen a terrible vision.
    I see traitors turning against you
    and people taking your wealth.

Elam, attack the people!
    Media, surround the city and attack it!
    I will bring an end to the pain the city causes.

³ I saw those terrible things, and now I am in pain;
    my pains are like the pains of giving birth.
What I hear makes me very afraid;
    what I see causes me to shake with fear.
⁴ I am worried,
    and I am shaking with fear.
My pleasant evening
    has become a night of fear.

⁵ They set the table;
    they spread the rugs;
    they eat and drink.
Leaders, stand up.
    Prepare the shields for battle!

⁶ The Lord said to me,
“Go, place a lookout for the city
    and have him report what he sees.
⁷ If he sees chariots and teams of horses,
    donkeys, or camels,
he should pay very close attention.”

⁸ Then the lookout called out,
“My master, each day I stand in the watchtower watching;
    every night I have been on guard.
⁹ Look, I see a man coming in a chariot
    with a team of horses.”
The man gives back the answer,
    “Babylon has fallen. It has fallen!
All the statues of her gods
    lie broken on the ground.”
¹⁰ My people are crushed like grain on the threshing floor.
    My people, I tell you what I have heard
from the Lord All-Powerful,
    from the God of Israel.