Isaiah 21:1-10

1Here is a message about the Desert by the Sea: Like strong winds blowing in the south, one invades from the desert, from a land that is feared.

2I have received a distressing message: “The deceiver deceives, the destroyer destroys. Attack, you Elamites! Lay siege, you Medes! I will put an end to all the groaning!”

3For this reason my stomach churns; cramps overwhelm me like the contractions of a woman in labor. I am disturbed by what I hear, horrified by what I see.

4My heart palpitates, I shake in fear; the twilight I desired has brought me terror.

5Arrange the table, lay out the carpet, eat and drink! Get up, you officers, smear oil on the shields!

6For this is what the sovereign master has told me: “Go, post a guard! He must report what he sees.

7When he sees chariots, teams of horses, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, very alert.”

8Then the guard cries out: “On the watchtower, O sovereign master, I stand all day long; at my post I am stationed every night.

9Look what’s coming! A charioteer, a team of horses.” When questioned, he replies, “Babylon has fallen, fallen! All the idols of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”

10O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, what I have heard from the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel, I have reported to you.