Prophecy of Babylon's Fall (The Watchman's Report)
Isaiah 21:1-10
Isa.21.1 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- משא: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מדבר: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- ים: NOUN,m,sg,cs
- כסופות: ADJ,f,pl,abs
- בנגב: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לחלף: PREP+VERB,qal,inf
- ממדבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,const
- בא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- מארץ: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- נוראה: ADJ,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Jeremiah 4:13 (verbal): An invading force described 'coming up like clouds' and 'his chariots like the whirlwind'—uses whirlwind-from-the-desert imagery akin to Isa 21:1's 'whirlwinds in the Negev' portraying sudden military incursion.
- Isaiah 13:5 (thematic): Oracle announcing a terrifying army 'coming from a far country' to execute judgment—parallels Isa 21:1's theme of a fearsome force arising from a remote/terrible land.
- Nahum 1:3 (verbal): God's judgment depicted with storm/whirlwind language and action against the sea—resonates with the combined motifs of 'wilderness'/'sea' and stormy, destructive movement in Isa 21:1.
- Habakkuk 1:6–9 (thematic): The Chaldeans are portrayed as a swift, ruthless people raised up to punish nations—echoes Isa 21:1's announcement of a 'terrible' people coming out of the wilderness to devastate.
- Isaiah 21:11–12 (structural): Another 'oracle concerning' (Dumah) within the same chapter that uses watchman/oracle framing and brief, stark prophetic announcements—parallels Isa 21:1 in form and prophetic technique.
Alternative generated candidates
- A burden concerning the Desert by the Sea: like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negeb—swiftly they come from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.
- A burden. The wilderness by the sea—like the roar of breakers in the Negev; from the desert comes the spoiler, from a dreadful land.
Isa.21.2 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- חזות: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- קשה: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- הגד: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- הבוגד: NOUN,m,sg,def
- בוגד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- והשודד: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,def
- שודד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- עילם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- צורי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- מדי: PREP
- כל: DET
- אנחתה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- השבתי: VERB,hiphil,perf,1,m,sg
Parallels
- Isaiah 13:1 (structural): Uses the prophetic heading for an oracle/burden (מַשָּׂא) and introduces an international judgment against a foreign power—parallels Isa 21:2’s opening formula and oracle-against-nation setting.
- Jeremiah 51:11 (verbal): Speaks of the Medes as instruments raised up against Babylon ('the spirit of the kings of the Medes'), directly paralleling Isa 21:2’s call to Media to besiege.
- Daniel 5:28 (thematic): Proclaims that the kingdom will be given to the Medes and Persians—reflects the theme in Isa 21:2 of Elam/Media acting as agents in political overthrow.
- Jeremiah 49:34-39 (allusion): An oracle concerning Elam that foretells judgment and dispersal of Elam’s people; closely parallels Isa 21:2’s mention of Elam in the context of attack and exile.
Alternative generated candidates
- A grievous vision—"Tell it to me!"—The betrayer betrays, and the plunderer plunders; against me, Elam; against me, Media. All their sighing I have heard.
- A grievous vision is declared to me: the traitor betrays, the betrayer betrays; the plunderer plunders. Up—Elam; besiege—Media; I have made all her sighing to cease.
Isa.21.3 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- על: PREP
- כן: ADV
- מלאו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- מתני: NOUN,m,pl,abs+1cs
- חלחלה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- צירים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אחזוני: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl+1cs
- כצירי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,constr
- יולדה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- נעויתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- משמע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נבהלתי: VERB,niphal,perf,1,_,sg
- מראות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 13:8 (verbal): Uses the same childbirth/travail imagery — people are 'in pain as a woman that travaileth,' echoing Isaiah 21:3's language of pangs and travail.
- Jeremiah 4:31 (thematic): Describes 'a voice as of a woman in travail' and visage turned pale — similar motifs of acute anguish, mourning, and birthing imagery for calamity.
- Isaiah 26:17-18 (verbal): Explicitly compares national suffering to a woman in labor who 'writhed and pained,' a closely parallel development of the travail motif for communal distress.
- Revelation 12:2 (allusion): New Testament use of childbirth imagery ('she was with child, and cried out in her pangs') echoes the prophetic motif of travail as a metaphor for intense tribulation.
Alternative generated candidates
- Therefore my loins are full of anguish; pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I tremble at the hearing; my heart falters; I look, I am alarmed, terror seizes me.
- Therefore my loins are filled with pangs; pangs have taken hold of me; I writhe like a woman in labor; I am overcome when I hear, I am terrified at the visions.
Isa.21.4 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- תעה: VERB,qal,ptc,m,sg
- לבבי: NOUN,m,sg,suff
- פלצות: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בעתתני: VERB,hiph,perf,3,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- נשף: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חשקי: NOUN,m,sg,suff
- שם: ADV
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- לחרדה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 55:5 (verbal): Presents almost identical language—"fearfulness and trembling have come upon me; horror has overwhelmed me"—echoing the trembling and overwhelming dread of Isa 21:4.
- Habakkuk 3:16 (verbal): The prophet reports bodily trembling and quaking in response to a terrifying vision of divine action—parallel physical imagery of fear and horror.
- Isaiah 13:7-8 (thematic): Describes panic, aghastness, and agony at the coming judgment (pangs like a woman in labor), thematically matching the terror and dread expressed in Isa 21:4.
- Zephaniah 1:15 (thematic): Speaks of a coming "day of wrath... distress and anguish, darkness and gloom," echoing the motif of anticipated night/twilight becoming a time of horror.
- Isaiah 21:3 (structural): Immediate context: the preceding verse sets up a dreadful vision and watchman imagery that leads directly into the heart‑trembling, night‑turned‑horror language of 21:4.
Alternative generated candidates
- My heart staggers, horror affrights me; the twilight I longed for has become dread to me.
- My heart staggers, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become for me a horror.
Isa.21.5 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ערך: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- השלחן: NOUN,m,sg,def
- צפה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- הצפית: VERB,qal,perf,2,ms
- אכול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שתה: VERB,qal,impv,2,sg
- קומו: VERB,qal,impv,2,pl
- השרים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- משחו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- מגן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Amos 6:1-7 (thematic): Depicts princes at ease—feasting and drinking—just before coming judgment; parallels the banquet/feast language (‘eat, drink’) and the motif of complacent leaders called to account.
- Isaiah 25:6 (thematic): Uses the image of a prepared table/banquet in prophetic material; echoes the table/feast motif in Isaiah's prophetic rhetoric (contrast between feast imagery and impending divine action).
- Psalm 23:5 (verbal): Shares the concrete expression 'you prepare a table' (Hebrew: ערכת שולחן); a similar image of a table being set in the presence of danger or foes.
- Ephesians 6:11-17 (thematic): Admonishes believers to 'put on' the armor of God—military imagery of preparation for conflict—parallel to 'arise... anoint the shield' as a call to martial readiness.
- Mark 13:33 (thematic): Calls for watchfulness ('watch'/'be alert') in view of an imminent event; parallels the repetitive watch-command (צפה הצפית) and the urgency of preparation in Isaiah 21:5.
Alternative generated candidates
- Set the table, watch! Watch! Eat and drink; rise up, O officers; anoint the shield!
- Set the table, watchman; watch. Eat and drink. Arise, O princes; anoint the shield.
Isa.21.6 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- כה: ADV
- אמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- אדני: NOUN,m,sg,abs,1,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- העמד: VERB,pi'el,ptc,3,m,sg
- המצפה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- אשר: PRON,rel
- יראה: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- יגיד: VERB,hif,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Ezek.33:7 (verbal): Uses the same command form—'I have set thee a watchman'—with the watchman's duty to warn the people, closely mirroring Isaiah's instruction to appoint a watcher to report what he sees.
- Ezek.3:17 (thematic): The watchman motif is developed here as a prophetic office with responsibility to warn Israel, paralleling Isaiah's assignment of a sentinel to announce incoming events.
- Hab.2:1 (verbal): The prophet speaks of standing watch and setting himself on the tower to see and report—language and imagery similar to appointing a watchman to observe and proclaim.
- Isa.62:6 (allusion): Within Isaiah itself the book returns to the image of appointed watchmen ('I have set watchmen upon thy walls'), applying the sentinel motif to Jerusalem's protection and prayerful vigilance.
- Jer.6:17 (thematic): God describes setting watchmen over the people to sound the alarm—the same prophetic function of observation and proclamation found in Isaiah 21:6.
Alternative generated candidates
- For thus said the LORD to me: "Go, station the lookout; let him report what he sees."
- For thus the LORD said to me: 'Go, set a watchman; let him declare what he sees.'
Isa.21.7 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וראה: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- רכב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- צמד: NOUN,m,sg,const
- פרשים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- רכב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חמור: PNOUN,m,sg
- רכב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- גמל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- והקשיב: VERB,hiph,perf,2,m,sg
- קשב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- רב: ADJ,m,sg
- קשב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 21:8-9 (structural): Immediate continuation of the same scene: the watchman hears the riders and then proclaims the oracle (Babylon’s fall). Closely tied in setting and function to v.7’s report of approaching chariots.
- Habakkuk 2:1 (thematic): Both verses employ the watchman motif—standing on the watchtower and listening intently for a report—emphasizing vigilance and reception of an announced judgment.
- Zechariah 6:1-5 (verbal): Prophetic vision featuring multiple chariots (and horses) as symbolic agents; parallels the use of chariot imagery in prophetic revelation and the report of moving riders.
- Jeremiah 4:13 (allusion): Uses chariots and swift movement as imagery of an invading/judgment force—parallels Isaiah’s catalogue of different riding animals announcing impending judgment.
- Nahum 2:4 (thematic): Depicts chariots rushing in the streets and the momentum of an attacking host; thematically echoes v.7’s depiction of various mounts and the sense of imminent military action.
Alternative generated candidates
- And he saw chariots—a pair of horsemen, chariots of asses, a chariot of camels—and he listened, listening attentively.
- Then he looked and saw chariots—pairs of horsemen, chariots of asses, chariots of camels—and he listened, listening intently.
Isa.21.8 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויקרא: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- אריה: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- על: PREP
- מצפה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אדני: NOUN,m,sg,abs,1,sg
- אנכי: PRON,1,sg
- עמד: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- תמיד: ADV
- יומם: ADV
- ועל: CONJ+PREP
- משמרתי: NOUN,m,sg,abs,1cs
- אנכי: PRON,1,sg
- נצב: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- כל: DET
- הלילות: NOUN,m,pl,def
Parallels
- Ezek.33:2-7 (verbal): God appoints a watchman and charges him to warn the people — closely parallels the language of being set/standing for a watch (appointed for my watch).
- Isa.62:6 (verbal): 'I have set watchmen upon thy walls... day and night' — virtually the same motif and phrasing of continuous, round‑the‑clock watch duty as in Isa 21:8.
- Jer.6:17 (verbal): God declares 'I set watchmen over you' who must heed the alarm — echoes the theme of divine appointment of sentinels to warn the people.
- Isa.56:10 (thematic): Critique of ineffective or sleeping watchmen ('They are blind... they are all without knowledge') — a contrasting treatment of the watchman motif found in Isaiah.
- Ps.121:4 (thematic): 'Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep' — parallels the idea of continual vigilance and protection associated with a watchman on duty.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then a lion called from the watchtower: "My lord, I stand continually by day; on my post I stand every night."
- And he cried, 'A lion!' and on the watchtower: 'My lord, I stand continually by day; at my post I stand every night.'
Isa.21.9 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והנה: ADV
- זה: PRON,dem,m,sg
- בא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- רכב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- איש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- צמד: NOUN,m,sg,const
- פרשים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ויען: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- נפלה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- נפלה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- בבל: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- וכל: CONJ+PRON,indef
- פסילי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- אלהיה: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- שבר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לארץ: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Revelation 18:2 (quotation): John echoes the double formula “Babylon is fallen, is fallen” and the proclamation of Babylon’s overthrow; the announcement of idols’ end echoes Isa.21:9’s broken images.
- Revelation 14:8 (allusion): A parallel proclamation—an angel announces that ‘Babylon the great is fallen’—reflecting the same theme of announced collapse.
- Isaiah 13:19-22 (thematic): An earlier Isaiah oracle against Babylon that likewise depicts the city’s utter desolation and ruin, sharing the prophetic motif of Babylon’s catastrophic fall.
- Jeremiah 51:7-8 (thematic): Jeremiah’s oracle announces Babylon’s capture and downfall; like Isa.21:9 it proclaims the city’s end and the overthrow of its pride and gods.
- Ezekiel 6:4 (verbal): Ezekiel condemns idolatry and speaks of altars/images being broken—paralleling Isa.21:9’s image of carved idols dashed to the ground.
Alternative generated candidates
- And behold, here comes a chariot of men, a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said, "Babylon has fallen, fallen! All her carved images of her gods he has broken to the ground."
- And behold, here comes one in a chariot, a rider on a pair of horses. And he answered and said, 'Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All her carved images lie shattered on the ground.'
Isa.21.10 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- מדשתי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+1,sg
- ובן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- גרני: NOUN,m,sg,abs+1,sg
- אשר: PRON,rel
- שמעתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,sg
- מאת: PREP
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- צבאות: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אלהי: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הגדתי: VERB,hif,perf,1,_,sg
- לכם: PREP,2,m,pl
Parallels
- Isaiah 21:9 (verbal): Immediate intra‑chapter parallel: v.9 proclaims 'Babylon is fallen,' and v.10 uses a prophet's transmission formula ('what I have heard from the LORD of hosts… I declared to you') to report the same oracle.
- Isaiah 13:19-22 (thematic): Another Isaianic oracle announcing the fall and desolation of Babylon; shares theme of divine judgment against a great city and the prophetic declaration of its doom.
- Jeremiah 50:1-3 (thematic): Jeremiah's oracle against Babylon likewise publicly announces Babylon's destruction; both prophets report a divine message about the city's downfall using a formal prophetic proclamation.
- Ezekiel 26:2-6 (structural): Ezekiel's charged oracle against the city of Tyre parallels the structural pattern seen in Isa 21:10: a prophet conveys a divine message pronouncing a city's destruction (first‑person commission and announcement of siege/desolation).
Alternative generated candidates
- My threshing, and the son of my grain—what I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.
- O my master, O my master! What I heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have made known to you.
An oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea: like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev—toward the wilderness it comes, from a terrifying land.
A grievous vision. The betrayer betrays, the plunderer plunders. Arise, O Elam; besiege, O Media; all their cries I will silence.
Therefore my loins were filled with pangs; pangs took hold of me. I writhed as one in labor; I was inwardly distraught; I was stunned at the hearing, terrified at the vision.
My heart went astray; fear made me tremble—the twilight I longed for has come to me for dread.
He has set the table—watch! the watchman watches. Eat and drink; rise up, O princes; anoint the shield.
For thus the LORD said to me, "Go, set a watchman; let him tell what he sees." And he saw chariots—pairs of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels—and he listened, he listened with great attention.
Then a lion cried from the watchpost, "O my lord, I stand continually on the watch; by day I am stationed, and in my watch I stand every night."
Behold, here comes one—an envoy, a chariot with a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said, "Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All her carved images are dashed to the ground!"
My threshing—my winnowing—what I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.