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Oracle against Arabia

13 An oracle concerning[a] Arabia:

You will spend the night in the thicket in a desert-plateau,[b]
    caravans of Dedanites.
14 When you happen to meet[c] the thirsty, bring water.
    Inhabitants of the land of Tema came to meet the fugitive with his bread.
15 For they have fled from the swords,
    from the drawn sword and the bent bow,
    and from the heaviness of the battle.

16 For the Lord said this to me:

In one more year,[d] like the years of a hired worker,

all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.
17     And the remainder of the number of the bows[e] of the warriors of the sons of Kedar will be few.”

For Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 21:13 Literally “in”
  2. Isaiah 21:13 The Hebrew for “in a desert-plateau” is the same as for “concerning Arabia” in the preceding line
  3. Isaiah 21:14 Literally “Toward encountering”
  4. Isaiah 21:16 Literally “In yet a year”
  5. Isaiah 21:17 Hebrew “bow”

13 The burden on Arabia.

In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, you caravans of Dedanites. 14 They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread. 15 For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle. 16 For the Lord said to me, “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail, 17 and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”

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