Isaiah 21:1-10
New Living Translation
A Message about Babylon
21 This message came to me concerning Babylon—the desert by the sea[a]:
Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert,
like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev.
2 I see a terrifying vision:
I see the betrayer betraying,
the destroyer destroying.
Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes,
attack and lay siege.
I will make an end
to all the groaning Babylon caused.
3 My stomach aches and burns with pain.
Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me,
like those of a woman in labor.
I grow faint when I hear what God is planning;
I am too afraid to look.
4 My mind reels and my heart races.
I longed for evening to come,
but now I am terrified of the dark.
5 Look! They are preparing a great feast.
They are spreading rugs for people to sit on.
Everyone is eating and drinking.
But quick! Grab your shields and prepare for battle.
You are being attacked!
6 Meanwhile, the Lord said to me,
“Put a watchman on the city wall.
Let him shout out what he sees.
7 He should look for chariots
drawn by pairs of horses,
and for riders on donkeys and camels.
Let the watchman be fully alert.”
8 Then the watchman[b] called out,
“Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord.
Night after night I have remained at my post.
9 Now at last—look!
Here comes a man in a chariot
with a pair of horses!”
Then the watchman said,
“Babylon is fallen, fallen!
All the idols of Babylon
lie broken on the ground!”
10 O my people, threshed and winnowed,
I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said,
everything the God of Israel has told me.
Isaiah 21:1-10
Legacy Standard Bible
Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon
21 The [a](A)oracle concerning the [b](B)wilderness of the sea.
As (C)whirlwinds in the [c]Negev sweep on,
It comes from the wilderness, from a fearsome land.
2 A (D)harsh vision has been declared to me;
The (E)treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, (F)Elam, lay siege, Media;
I have made an end of all [d]the groaning she has caused.
3 For this reason my (G)loins are full of anguish;
Pains have seized me like the pains of a (H)woman in labor.
I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.
4 My heart [e]reels; [f]horror terrorizes me;
The twilight I longed for has been (I)turned for me into trembling.
5 They (J)set the table, they [g]spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, commanders, oil the shields,”
6 For thus the Lord says to me,
“Go, station the lookout, let him (K)declare what he sees.
7 Indeed, he shall see (L)riders, horsemen in pairs,
Riders of donkeys, riders of camels,
So let him pay close attention, very close attention.”
8 Then [h]the lookout called,
“(M)O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
9 Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one answered and said, “(N)Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the (O)graven images of her gods [i]are shattered on the ground.”
10 O my (P)trampled people and my [j]afflicted of the threshing floor!
What I have heard from Yahweh of hosts,
The God of Israel, I have declared to you.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 21:1 Or burden of
- Isaiah 21:1 Or sandy wastes, sea country
- Isaiah 21:1 South country
- Isaiah 21:2 Lit her groaning
- Isaiah 21:4 Lit wandered
- Isaiah 21:4 Lit shuddering
- Isaiah 21:5 Or spread out the rugs; or possibly they arranged the seating
- Isaiah 21:8 As in DSS; M.T. he called like a lion
- Isaiah 21:9 Lit he has shattered to the earth
- Isaiah 21:10 Lit son
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.