The Fall of Babylon Proclaimed
As awhirlwinds in the South pass through,
So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.
aThe treacherous dealer deals treacherously,
And the plunderer plunders.
bGo up, O Elam!
Besiege, O Media!
All its sighing I have made to cease.
bPangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor.
I was1 distressed when I heard it;
I was dismayed when I saw it.
aThe night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.
Set a watchman in the tower,
Eat and drink.
Arise, you princes,
Anoint the shield!
A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels,
And he listened earnestly with great care.
I stand continually on the awatchtower in the daytime;
I have sat at my post every night.
Then he answered and said,
a“Babylon is fallen, is fallen!
And ball the carved images of her gods
He has broken to the ground.”
That which I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel,
I have declared to you.
Proclamation Against Edom
He calls to me out of bSeir,
“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?”
“The morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
Return! Come back!”
| << Isaiah 20:6 | Isaiah 21:2 >> |
Isaiah 21:1
REPETITION OF THE ASSURANCE GIVEN IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CHAPTERS TO THE JEWS ABOUT TO BE CAPTIVES IN BABYLON, THAT THEIR ENEMY SHOULD BE DESTROYED AND THEY BE DELIVERED. (Isaiah 21:1-10)
desert—the champaign between Babylon and Persia; it was once a desert, and it was to become so again.
of the sea—The plain was covered with the water of the Euphrates like a "sea" (Jeremiah 51:13, Jeremiah 51:36; so Isaiah 11:15, the Nile), until Semiramis raised great dams against it. Cyrus removed these dykes, and so converted the whole country again into a vast desert marsh.
whirlwinds in the south— (Job 37:9; Zechariah 9:14). The south wind comes upon Babylon from the deserts of Arabia, and its violence is the greater from its course being unbroken along the plain (Job 1:19).
desert—the plain between Babylon and Persia.
terrible land—Media; to guard against which was the object of Nitocris' great works [HERODOTUS, 1.185]. Compare as to "terrible" applied to a wilderness, as being full of unknown dangers, Deuteronomy 1:29.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Isaiah 21:1:
Job 1:19
Job 9:11
Job 37:9
Isaiah 21:1
Jeremiah 51:13
Jeremiah 51:36
Zechariah 9:14
Revelation 12:14
| << Isaiah 20:6 | Isaiah 21:2 >> |
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