Isaías 21 · Caída de Babilonia

1The “Desert of the Sea” Pronouncement. Like the galesThat race through the Negeb,It comes from the desert,The terrible land.

2A harsh prophecyHas been announced to me:“The betrayer is betraying,The ravager ravaging. Advance, Elam!Lay siege, Media!I have put an endTo all her sighing.”

3Therefore my loinsAre seized with trembling;I am gripped by pangsLike a woman in travail,Too anguished to hear,Too frightened to see.

4My mind is confused,I shudder in panic.My night of pleasureHe has turned to terror:

5“Set the table!”To “Let the watchman watch!”“Eat and drink!”To “Up, officers! Grease the shields!”

6For thus my Sovereign said to me:“Go, set up a sentry;Let him announce what he sees.

7He will see mounted men,Horsemen in pairs—Riders on donkeys,Riders on camels—And he will listen closely,Most attentively.”

8And [like] a lion he called out:“On my Sovereign’s lookout I standEver by day,And at my post I watchEvery night.

9And there they come, mounted men—Horsemen in pairs!”Then he spoke up and said,“Fallen, fallen is Babylon,And all the images of her godsHave crashed to the ground!”

10My threshing, the product of my threshing floor: What I have heard from GOD of Hosts,The God of Israel—That I have told to you.

11The “Dumah” Pronouncement.A call comes to me from Seir:“Watchman, what of the night?Watchman, what of the night?”

12The watchman replied,“Morning came, and so did night.If you would inquire, inquire.Come back again.”

13The “In the Steppe” Pronouncement.In the scrub, in the steppe, you will lodge,O caravans of the Dedanites!

14Meet the thirsty with water,You who dwell in the land of Tema;Greet the fugitive with bread.

15For they have fled before swords:Before the whetted sword,Before the bow that was drawn,Before the stress of war.

16For thus my Sovereign has said to me: “In another year, fixed like the years of a hired laborer, all the multitude of Kedar shall vanish;

17the remaining bows of Kedar’s warriors shall be few in number; for the ETERNAL, the God of Israel, has spoken.”