21:1 The pronouncement concerning the ①wilderness of the sea:
As windstorms in the ②Negev come in turns,
It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.
▷ ①Or sandy wastes, sea country ②I.e., South country
21:2 A harsh vision has been shown to me;
The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media;
I have put an end to all ①the groaning she has caused.
▷ ①Lit her groaning
21:3 For this reason my loins are full of anguish;
Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor.
I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.
21:4 My ①mind reels, ②horror overwhelms me;
The twilight I longed for has been turned into trembling for me.
▷ ①Lit heart has wandered ②Lit shuddering
21:5 They set the table, they ①spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, captains, oil the shields!”
▷ ①Or spread out the rugs or possibly they arranged the seating
21:6 For this is what the Lord says to me:
“Go, station the lookout, have him report what he sees.
21:7 When he sees ①a column of chariots, horsemen in pairs,
A train of donkeys, a train of camels,
He is to pay close attention, very close attention.”
▷ ①Or riders
21:8 Then ①the lookout called,
“Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
▷ ①As in DSS; MT he called like a lion
21:9 Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the images of her gods ①are shattered on the ground.”
▷ ①Lit he has shattered to the earth
21:10 My downtrodden people, and my ①afflicted of the threshing floor!
What I have heard from the LORD of armies,
The God of Israel, I make known to you.
▷ ①Lit son
21:11 The pronouncement concerning ①Edom:
One keeps calling to me from Seir,
“Watchman, ②how far gone is the night?
Watchman, ③how far gone is the night?”
▷ ①As in LXX; MT Dumah, silence ②Lit what is the time of the night? ③Lit what is the time of the night?
21:12 The watchman says,
“Morning comes but also night.
If you would inquire, inquire;
Come back again.”
21:13 The pronouncement about Arabia:
In the thickets of Arabia you ①must spend the night,
You caravans of Dedanites.
▷ ①Or will spend
21:14 Bring water ①for the thirsty,
You inhabitants of the land of Tema;
Meet the fugitive with bread.
▷ ①Lit to meet
21:15 For they have fled from the swords,
From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow,
And from the press of battle.
21:16 For this is what the Lord said to me: “In a year, as ①a hired worker would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end;
▷ ①Lit the years of a hired
21:17 and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the warriors of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken.”