Isaiah 21

As windstorms in the ^[c]Negev sweep on,
It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.
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 made an end of all ^[d]the groaning she has caused.
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.
⁴ My ^[e]mind reels, ^[f]horror overwhelms me;
The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.
⁵ They set the table, they ^[g]spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, captains, oil the shields,”

“Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.
⁷ “When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
A train of donkeys, a train of camels,
Let him pay close attention, very close attention.”

“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 said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the images of her gods ^[i]are shattered on the ground.”
¹⁰ O my threshed people, and my ^[j]afflicted of the threshing floor!
What I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel, I make known to you.

One keeps calling to me from Seir,
“Watchman, ^[m]how far gone is the night?
Watchman, ^[n]how far gone is the night?”
¹² The watchman says,
“Morning comes but also night.
If you would inquire, inquire;
Come back again.”

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