21The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.


As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
   it comes from the desert,
   from a terrible land.
2 A stern vision is told to me;
   the betrayer betrays,
   and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O Elam,
   lay siege, O Media;
all the sighing she has caused
   I bring to an end.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
   pangs have seized me,
   like the pangs of a woman in labour;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear,
   I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4 My mind reels, horror has appalled me;
   the twilight I longed for
   has been turned for me into trembling.
5 They prepare the table,
   they spread the rugs,
   they eat, they drink.
Rise up, commanders,
   oil the shield!
6 For thus the Lord said to me:
‘Go, post a lookout,
   let him announce what he sees.
7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
   riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
   very diligently.’
8 Then the watcher called out:
‘Upon a watch-tower I stand, O Lord,
   continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
   throughout the night.
9 Look, there they come, riders,
   horsemen in pairs!’
Then he responded,
   ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the images of her gods
   lie shattered on the ground.’
10 O my threshed and winnowed one,
   what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
   the God of Israel, I announce to you.

11 The oracle concerning Dumah.


One is calling to me from Seir,
   ‘Sentinel, what of the night?
   Sentinel, what of the night?’
12 The sentinel says:
‘Morning comes, and also the night.
   If you will inquire, inquire;
   come back again.’