| Chapter 21 |
1 | The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the south, it cometh from the desert from a terrible land. |
2 | A grievous vision is told me: he that is unfaithful dealeth unfaithfully : and he that is a spoiler, spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease. |
3 | Therefore are my loins filled with pain, anguish hath taken hold of me, as the anguish of a woman in labour: I fell down at the hearing of it, I was troubled at the seeing of it. |
4 | My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me. |
5 | Prepare the table, behold in the watchtower them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield. |
6 | For thus hath the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman: and whatsoever he shall see, let him tell. |
7 | And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed. |
8 | And a lion cried out: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day: and I am upon my ward, standing whole nights. |
9 | Behold this man cometh, the rider upon the chariot with two horsemen, and he answered, and said: Babylon is fallen, she is fallen, and all the graven gods thereof are broken unto the ground. |
10 | O my thrashing and the children of my door, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you. |
11 | The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the eight? watchman, what of the night? |
12 | The watchman said: The morning cometh, also the night: if you seek, seek: return, come. |
13 | The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dedanim. |
14 | Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land of the south, meet with bread him that fleeth. |
15 | For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle. |
16 | For thus saith the Lord to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away. |
17 | And the residue of the number of strong archers of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord the God of Israel hath spoken it. |