[1] The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South
sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land. [2] A
grievous vision is declared to me; the treacherous man deals treacherously,
and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; besiege, Media; all the sighing of
it have I made to cease. [3] Therefore are my loins filled with anguish;
pangs have taken hold on me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am
pained so that I can`t hear; I am dismayed so that I can`t see. [4] My
heart flutters, horror has frightened me; the twilight that I desired has
been turned into trembling to me. [5] They prepare the table, they set the
watch, they eat, they drink: rise up, you princes, anoint the shield. [6]
For thus has the Lord said to me, Go, set a watchman: let him declare what
he sees: [7] and when he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of
donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with much heed. [8]
He cried as a lion: Lord, I stand continually on the watch-tower in the
day-time, and am set in my ward whole nights; [9] and, behold, here comes a
troop of men, horsemen in pairs. He answered, Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground. [10] You
my threshing, and the grain of my floor! that which I have heard from
Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared to you. [11] The burden
of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night? [12] The watchman said, The morning comes, and
also the night: if you will inquire, inquire you: turn you, come. [13] The
burden on Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall you lodge, you caravans of
Dedanites. [14] To him who was thirsty they brought water; the inhabitants
of the land of Tema did meet the fugitives with their bread. [15] For they
fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and
from the heat of battle. [16] For thus has the Lord said to me, Within a
year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall
fail; [17] and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of
the children of Kedar, shall be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has
spoken it.
