Isaiah 21:1-9 - ESV Online

ISAIAH 21:1-9

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

21:1 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.

As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,

it comes from the wilderness,

from a terrible land. 2

A stern vision is told to me;

the traitor betrays,

and the destroyer destroys.

Go up, O Elam;

lay siege, O Media;

all the sighing she has caused

I bring to an end. 3

Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;

pangs have seized me,

like the pangs of a woman in labor;

I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;

I am dismayed so that I cannot see. 4

My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;

the twilight I longed for

has been turned for me into trembling. 5

They prepare the table,

they spread the rugs,

they eat, they drink.

Arise, O princes;

oil the shield! 6

For thus the Lord said to me:

“Go, set a watchman;

let him announce what he sees. 7

When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,

riders on donkeys, riders on camels,

let him listen diligently,

very diligently.” 8

Then he who saw cried out:

“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,

continually by day,

and at my post I am stationed

whole nights. 9

And behold, here come riders,

horsemen in pairs!”

And he answered,

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;

and all the carved images of her gods

he has shattered to the ground.”

ESV® Permanent Text Edition (2016). The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers.