[1] The 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 plunderer plunders, 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 travail; 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. Arise, O princes, oil the shield! [6] For thus the Lord said to me:
"Go, set a watchman, let him announce what he sees. [7] When he sees
riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on asses, riders on camels, let him
listen diligently, very diligently." [8] Then he who saw cried: "Upon a
watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am
stationed whole nights. [9] And, behold, here come riders, horsemen in
pairs!" And he answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the images of
her gods he has shattered to 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 Se'ir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?"
[12] The watchman says: "Morning comes, and also the night. If you will
inquire, inquire; come back again." [13] The oracle concerning Arabia. In
the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of De'danites. [14] To
the thirsty bring water, meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the
land of Tema. [15] For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn
sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle. [16] For thus the
Lord said to me, "Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all
the glory of Kedar will come to an end; [17] and the remainder of the
archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few; for the LORD,
the God of Israel, has spoken."
