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God’s Message to Arabia

13 This is a ·message [prophecy; oracle; burden] about Arabia:

You ·traders [caravans] from Dedan
    who spent the night ·near some trees in [in the thickets of] Arabia.
14 Bring water to thirsty travelers;
    you people of Tema, give food
    to ·those who were escaping [the fugitives].
15 They ·were running [flee] from swords,
    from ·swords ready to kill [L the drawn sword],
from ·bows ready to shoot [the bent bow],
    from ·a hard [the distress/terrors/hardship of] battle.

16 This is what the Lord said to me: “Within a year all the ·glory [splendor] of the country of Kedar will be gone. (This is a year as a hired helper counts time [C carefully calculated; 16:14].) 17 ·At that time [L In that day] only a few of the archers, the ·soldiers [warriors; mighty men] of [L the sons of] Kedar, will be left alive.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.

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13 The [mournful, inspired] oracle ([a]a burden to be carried) concerning Arabia:

In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night,
Caravans of Dedanites.
14 
Bring water for the thirsty [Dedanites],
O inhabitants of the land of Tema [in Arabia];
Meet the fugitive with bread.
15 
For they have fled from the swords,
From the drawn sword, from the bent bow
And from the press of battle and grief of war.

16 For the Lord has said this to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired man [who will work no longer than was agreed], all the splendor of [the tribe of] Kedar will end; 17 and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 21:13 I.e. an urgent message the prophet is under compulsion to proclaim.