[1] The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negev sweep on, It comes from the wilderness, from a fearsome land. [2] A harsh vision has been declared to me; The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media; I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused. [3] For this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. [4] My heart reels; horror terrorizes me; The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. [5] They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; “Rise up, commanders, oil the shields,” [6] For thus the Lord says to me, “Go, station the lookout, let him declare what he sees. [7] “Indeed, he shall see riders, horsemen in pairs, Riders of donkeys, riders of camels, So let him pay close attention, very close attention.” [8] Then the lookout called, “O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, And I am stationed every night at my guard post. [9] “Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered and said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the graven images of her gods are shattered on the ground.” [10] O my trampled people and my afflicted of the threshing floor! What I have heard from Yahweh of hosts, The God of Israel, I have declared to you. [11] The oracle concerning Dumah. One keeps calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, how far gone is the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night?” [12] The watchman says, “Morning comes but also night. If you would inquire, inquire; Come back again.” [13] The oracle about Arabia. In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites. [14] Bring water to meet the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Meet with bread the one who has fled. [15] For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow And from the heaviness of battle. [16] For thus the Lord said to me, “In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the glory of Kedar will end; [17] and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
