Isaiah 21

MSG — The Message Bible (MSG)

AMP — Amplified Bible (AMP)

Verse 1

A Message concerning the desert at the sea:

As tempests drive through the Negev Desert,
    coming out of the desert, that terror-filled place,
A hard vision is given me:
    The betrayer betrayed, the plunderer plundered.
Attack, Elam!
    Lay siege, Media!
Persians, attack!
    Attack, Babylon!
I’ll put an end to
    all the moaning and groaning.
Because of this news I’m doubled up in pain,
    writhing in pain like a woman having a baby,
Baffled by what I hear,
    undone by what I see.
Absolutely stunned,
    horror-stricken,
I had hoped for a relaxed evening,
    but it has turned into a nightmare.

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (^[a]a burden to be carried) concerning the Desert of the ^[b]Sea (the seasonally flooded plains just south of Babylon):

As windstorms in the Negev (the South) sweep through,
So it (God’s judgment) comes from the desert, from [the hostile armies of] a terrifying land.

Verse 2

— not in MSG

A harsh vision has been shown to me;
The treacherous one deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media!
All the groaning [caused by Babylon’s ruthless oppressions] I [the Lord] have brought to an end.

Verse 3

— not in MSG

Therefore [continues Isaiah] my loins are filled with anguish;
Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in childbirth;
I am so bent and bewildered that I cannot hear, I am so terrified that I cannot see.

Verse 4

— not in MSG

My mind reels, horror overwhelms me;
The twilight I longed for has been ^[c]turned into fear and trembling for me.

Verse 5

The banquet is spread,
the guests reclining in luxurious ease,
Eating and drinking, having a good time,
and then, “To arms, princes! The fight is on!”

They set the table [for the doomed banquet], they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, captains [of Belshazzar’s court], oil your shields [for battle, for your enemy is at the gates]!”

Verse 6

The Master told me, “Go, post a lookout.
    Have him report whatever he spots.
When he sees horses and wagons in battle formation,
    lines of donkeys and columns of camels,
Tell him to keep his ear to the ground,
    note every whisper, every rumor.”
Just then, the lookout shouted,
    “I’m at my post, Master,
Sticking to my post day after day
    and all through the night!
I watched them come,
    the horses and wagons in battle formation.
I heard them call out the war news in headlines:
    ‘Babylon fallen! Fallen!
And all its precious god-idols
    smashed to pieces on the ground.’”

This is what the Lord says to me,

“Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.

Verse 7

— not in MSG

“When he sees a chariot, horsemen in pairs,
A train of donkeys and a train of camels,
Let him pay attention and listen closely, very closely.”

Verse 8

— not in MSG

And the lookout called like a lion,

“O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower by day,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

Verse 9

— not in MSG

“Now look! Here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the carved images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”

Verse 10

Dear Israel, you’ve been through a lot,
you’ve been put through the mill.
The good news I get from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
the God of Israel, I now pass on to you.

O my threshed people [Judah, who must be judged and trampled down by Babylon], my afflicted of the threshing floor.
What I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel, I have [joyfully] announced to you [that Babylon is to fall].

Oracles about Edom and Arabia

Verse 11

A Message concerning Edom:

A voice calls to me
    from the Seir mountains in Edom,
“Night watchman! How long till daybreak?
    How long will this night last?”
The night watchman calls back,
    “Morning’s coming,
But for now it’s still night.
    If you ask me again, I’ll give the same answer.”

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (^[d]a burden to be carried) concerning Dumah (Edom):

Someone keeps calling to me from Seir (Edom),
“Watchman, what is left of the night [of Assyrian oppression]?
Watchman, what is left of the night? [How long until morning?]”

Verse 12

— not in MSG

The watchman says,
“The morning comes [only briefly], but also [comes] the night [of Babylonian oppression].
If you would ask [of me then], ask [again, if Edom really wishes to know];
Come back again.”

Verse 13

A Message concerning Arabia:

You’ll have to camp out in the desert badlands,
    you caravans of Dedanites.
Haul water to the thirsty,
    greet fugitives with bread.
Show your desert hospitality,
    you who live in Tema.
The desert’s swarming with refugees
    escaping the horrors of war.

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

In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night,
Caravans of Dedanites.

Verse 14

— not in MSG

Bring water for the thirsty [Dedanites],
O inhabitants of the land of Tema [in Arabia];
Meet the fugitive with bread.

Verse 15

— not in MSG

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.

Verse 16

The Master told me, “Hang on. Within one year—I’ll sign a contract on it!—the arrogant brutality of Kedar, those hooligans of the desert, will be over, nothing much left of the Kedar toughs.” The God of Israel says so.

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;

Verse 17

— not in MSG

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.”