Isaiah 21:2

The Fall of Babylon Proclaimed

1 The¹ burden against the Wilderness of the Sea.
As ^awhirlwinds in the South pass through,
So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.

2 A distressing vision is declared to me;
^aThe treacherous dealer deals treacherously,
And the plunderer plunders.
^bGo up, O Elam!
Besiege, O Media!
All its sighing I have made to cease.

3 Therefore ^amy loins are filled with pain;
^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.

4 My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me;
^aThe night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.

5 ^aPrepare the table,
Set a watchman in the tower,
Eat and drink.
Arise, 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 he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen,
A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels,
And he listened earnestly with great care.

8 ¹Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord!
I stand continually on the ^awatchtower in the daytime;
I have sat at my post every night.

9 And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!”
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.”

10 ^aOh, my threshing and the grain of my floor!
That which I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel,
I have declared to you.

Proclamation Against Edom

11 ^aThe¹ burden against Dumah.
He calls to me out of ^bSeir,
“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?”

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Isaiah 21:2

The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth "The plunderer is plundered, and the destroyer is destroyed" - habboged boged vehashshoded shoded . The MSS. vary in expressing or omitting the vau , in these four words. Ten MSS. of Kennicott are without the vau in the second word, and eight MSS. are without the vau in the fourth word; which justifies Symmachus, who has rendered them passively: ̔ ̔ . He read bagud shadud . Cocceius (Lexicon in voce) observes that the Chaldee very often renders the verb bagad , by bazaz , he spoiled; and in this place, and in Isaiah 33:1, by the equivalent word anas , to press, give trouble; and in Isaiah 24:16 both by anas and bazaz ; and the Syriac in this place renders it by talam , he oppressed.

All the sighing thereof have I made to cease "I have put an end to all her vexations" - Hebrews "Her sighing; that is, the sighing caused by her." So Kimchi on the place: "It means those who groaned through fear of him: for the suffixes of the nouns refer both to the agent and the patient. All those who groaned before the face of the king of Babylon he caused to rest;" Chald. And so likewise Ephrem Syr. in loc., edit. Assemani: "His groans, viz., the grief and tears which the Chaldeans occasioned through the rest of the nations."

**Other Adam Clarke entries containing Isaiah 21:2:**

Isaiah 24:16
Isaiah 33:1

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Isaiah 21:3 >>

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