Babylon is Fallen
1 The burden against the Desert by the sea:
As whirlwinds in the South sweep through,
so it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.
2 A grievous vision has been declared to me.
The treacherous man deals treacherously,
and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam! Attack, Media!
I will put an end to all of the groaning she has caused.
3 Therefore my body is filled with anguish.
Pains have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor.
I am in so much pain that I cannot hear.
I so am dismayed that I cannot see.
4 My heart flutters.
Horror has frightened me.
The twilight of my hope
has been turned into trembling for me.
5 They prepare the table.
They set the watch. They eat. They drink.
Rise up, you princes! Oil the shield!
6 For the Lord said to me,
“Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.
7 When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs,
a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels;
he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness.”
8 He cried like a lion:
“Lord, I stand continually
on the watchtower in the daytime,
and every night I stay at my post.
9 Here comes a troop of men,
horsemen in pairs.” He answered,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon
and all the engraved images of her gods
are broken to the ground.
10 You are my threshing
and the grain of my floor!”
That which I have heard from the Lord of Hosts,
from the God of Israel,
I have declared to you.
A Prophecy against Edom
11 The burden against Dumah:
One calls to me out of Seir,
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
12 The watchman said,
“The morning has come and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire.
Come back again.”
A Prophecy against Arabia
13 The burden against Arabia:
In the forest of Arabia you will lodge,
you caravans of Dedanites.
14 They brought water to him who was thirsty.
The inhabitants of the land of Tema
met the fugitives with their bread.
15 For they fled away from the swords,
from the drawn sword, from the bent bow,
and from the heat of battle.
16 For the Lord said to me, “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail, 17 and the remnant of archers, the mighty men of the descendants of Kedar, will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”