Isaiah 21 :: New International Version (NIV)

A Prophecy Against Babylon

Isa 21:1A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.

Isa 21:2

Isa 21:2A dire vision has been shown to me: The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot. Elam, attack! Media, lay siege! I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.

Isa 21:3

Isa 21:3At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see.

Isa 21:4

Isa 21:4My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become a horror to me.

Isa 21:5

Isa 21:5They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields!

Isa 21:6

Isa 21:6This is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.

Isa 21:7

Isa 21:7When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert.”

Isa 21:8

Isa 21:8And the lookout[fn] shouted, “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post.

Isa 21:9

Isa 21:9Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!’ ”

Isa 21:10

Isa 21:10My people who are crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD Almighty, from the God of Israel.

A Prophecy Against Edom

Isa 21:11

Isa 21:11A prophecy against Dumah[fn]: Someone calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”

Isa 21:12

Isa 21:12The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but also the night. If you would ask, then ask; and come back yet again.”

A Prophecy Against Arabia

Isa 21:13

Isa 21:13A prophecy against Arabia: You caravans of Dedanites, who camp in the thickets of Arabia,

Isa 21:14

Isa 21:14bring water for the thirsty; you who live in Tema, bring food for the fugitives.

Isa 21:15

Isa 21:15They flee from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow and from the heat of battle.

Isa 21:16

Isa 21:16This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.

Isa 21:17

Isa 21:17The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(21:8)

Dead Sea Scrolls and Syriac; Masoretic Text A lion

(21:11)

Dumah, a wordplay on Edom, means silence or stillness.

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Isaiah Chapter 21 — Additional Translations: