Prophecy of Babylon's Fall (The Watchman's Report)
Isaiah 21:1-10
1An oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea: As whirlwinds in the Negeb, it comes from the wilderness, from a land to be feared.2A severe vision has been told to me: the treacherous one deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; lay siege, Madai. I have caused all her sighing to cease.3Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in labor. I was bent from hearing; I was dismayed from seeing.4My heart has gone astray; shuddering has terrified me. He has set the twilight of my desire to trembling for me.5Arrange the table; spread the rug; eat; drink. Arise, you rulers; anoint the shield.6For thus the LORD said to me: Go, station the watchman who sees and tells.7And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, a chariot of donkeys, a chariot of camels, and he listened with great attentiveness.8And he cried out like a lion upon the lookout: O my LORD, I stand continually by day, and upon my post I stand all the nights.9And behold, this comes: a chariot of a man with a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said: Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the idols of her gods he shattered to the ground.10O my threshed one and son of my threshing floor, what I heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, I have told to you.