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?”
| << Isaiah 21:3 | Isaiah 21:5 >> |
Isaiah 21:4
My heart panted - Margin, ' My mind wandered.' The Hebrew word rendered ' panted' ( tâ‛âh ) means to wander about; to stagger; to be giddy; and is applied often to one that staggers by being intoxicated. Applied to the heart, it means that it is disquieted or troubled. The Hebrew word "heart" here is to be taken in the sense of "mind."
The night of my pleasure - There can be no doubt that the prophet here refers to the night of revelry and riot in which Babylon was taken. The prophet calls it the night of "his" pleasure, because he represents himself as being "in" Babylon when it should be taken, and, therefore, uses such language as an inhabitant of Babylon would use. "They" would call it the night of their pleasure, because it was set apart to feasting and revelry.
Hath he turned into fear - God has made it a night of consternation and alarm. The prophet here refers to the fact that Babylon would be taken by Cyrus during that night, and that consternation and alarm would suddenly pervade the affrighted and guilty city (see Dan. 5).
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Isaiah 21:4:
| << Isaiah 21:3 | Isaiah 21:5 >> |
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