Vision of the Wilderness Sea
A vision from the Sovereign Father leaves the prophet doubled over with labor pains, watching men feast until the alarm is raised. A watchman is posted, and when riders come he calls out that Babylon has fallen. Asked how the night goes, he answers: morning comes, and night too.
21 1The oracle of the wilderness of the sea. Like whirlwinds sweeping the Negev, it comes from the wilderness, a fearsome land. 2A harsh vision has been shown to me: the betrayer betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media! I have put an end to all the groaning she caused. 3Therefore my body is gripped with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. I am too doubled over to hear, too terrified to see. 4My heart staggers; horror overwhelms me. The twilight I longed for has turned to trembling for me. 5They set the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Rise up, you princes! Oil the shields! a a v5 Oiling leather shields kept them supple and battle-ready — this was the standard way ancient soldiers prepared for combat.
6For this is what the Sovereign Father said to me: "Go, station the watchman; let him report what he sees. 7When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him watch closely, very closely."
8Then the watchman cried out: "A lion! Upon the watchtower, O Sovereign Father, I stand continually by day, and at my post I keep watch all through the nights." 9And look—here come riders, horsemen in pairs! And he answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the carved images of her gods lie shattered on the ground." 10O my threshed people, child of my threshing floor, what I have heard from the Father of heaven's armies, I declare to you.
Watchman, What of the Night?
11An oracle about Dumah. Someone calls to me from Seir: "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" b b v11 Dumah means "silence" — a fitting title for this oracle against Edom, the land of Seir. 12The watchman says, "Morning comes, and also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire; come back again."
A Word Concerning Arabia
13The oracle concerning Arabia. In Arabia's thickets you will spend the night, you Dedanite caravans. 14Bring water to the thirsty; you who live in the land of Tema, bring bread to the fugitive. 15For they have fled from the swords—from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the weight of battle.
16For the Sovereign Father told me: "Within a year, as a hired worker counts it, all Kedar's glory ends. 17The remaining archers, Kedar's warrior sons, will be few, for our Father has spoken."
