Scriptures
Isaiah 21


Chapter 21

Babylon is fallen, is fallen!—Other nations also are destroyed.

1 The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.

2 A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.

3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.

5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.

6 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.

7 And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed:

8 And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:

9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.

10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

11 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?

12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come.

13 The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.

14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.

15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.

16 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:

17 And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.

      • IE a message or prophecy of doom to Babylon.

      • OR the Negev desert.

      • Isa. 33:1.

      • This prophecy was fulfilled in 538 B.C., about 200 years after Isaiah lived.

      • IE Isaiah was astonished at the cataclysmic scene he saw in vision, even though an enemy was the nation destroyed.

      • HEB O my threshed one and son of my threshing floor. (The prophet thus addressed the Israelites who will survive Babylon’s downfall.)

      • IE a message of doom to the Edomites.

      • Gen. 36:8 (8–9); Ezek. 35:2.

      • IE How much is spent? How long will darkness (i.e., oppression) last?

      • IE The end of Babylonian captivity approaches, but another oppressor follows; inquire again later.

      • Arabian caravans and camps would also suffer disruption and oppression by the Babylonian conquest (vv. 13–17).