Isaiah 21
Oracle Against Babylon
1The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.
2A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media’s sighing.
3Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can’t hear. I am so dismayed that I can’t see.
4My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me.
5They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!
6For the Lord said to me, “Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.
7When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness.”
8He cried like a lion: “Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post.
9Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.
10You are my threshing, and the grain of my floor!” That which I have heard from the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.
Oracle Against Dumah
11The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”
12The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again.”
Oracle Against Arabia
13The burden on Arabia. You will lodge in the thickets in Arabia, you caravans of Dedanites.
14They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.
15For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle.
16For the Lord said to me, “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail,
17and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”
Isaiah 21 presents three prophetic oracles against foreign nations, each delivered with intense emotional weight. The chapter opens with a dramatic vision of Babylon's fall, described through the metaphor of a watchman who announces the empire's destruction. Brief oracles against Dumah (Edom) and Arabia follow, emphasizing themes of judgment, uncertainty, and the temporary nature of earthly power.
Context
This chapter continues Isaiah's series of oracles against foreign nations that began in chapter 13, demonstrating God's sovereignty over all earthly powers.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1-5Vision of Babylon's DestructionIsaiah receives an anguishing vision of Babylon's fall, described as a devastating storm from the wilderness.
- 6-10The Watchman's ReportA watchman is appointed to observe and report the approaching armies that will bring about Babylon's downfall.
- 11-12Oracle Against DumahA cryptic prophecy concerning Edom, with questions about the night and ambiguous answers about morning and darkness.
- 13-17Oracle Against ArabiaProphecy of judgment against Arabian tribes, particularly Kedar, whose glory will fail within a year.
Oracle Against Babylon
21:1–21:10Isaiah receives a grievous vision of Babylon's fall, experiencing physical anguish as he witnesses God's judgment against the treacherous empire and the destruction of its idols.
geographic
Elam's appearance among Babylon's destroyers marks one of only six biblical mentions of this Persian Gulf kingdom, transforming from Israel's distant enemy into God's instrument of judgment.
Oracle Against Dumah
21:11–21:12A brief oracle where someone from Seir inquires about the duration of night, receiving an enigmatic response about both morning and night coming.
geographic
Dumah's oracle uniquely employs the watchman motif with repetitive questioning about night's duration, creating Isaiah's most cryptic and temporally ambiguous prophetic response.
Oracle Against Arabia
21:13–21:17An oracle against Arabia describing fugitives fleeing from battle, receiving hospitality from Tema's inhabitants, while prophesying the decline of Kedar's glory within a year.
geographic
Tema transforms from Job's distant example of divine justice (Job 6:19) into Isaiah's beacon of Arabian hospitality, creating the Bible's only positive portrayal of refuge amid judgment.
Isaiah 21:8
Leviticus 8:35lexicalYou shall stay at the door of the Tent of Meeting day and night seven days, and keep the LORD’s command, that you don’t…
Isaiah 60:11lexicalYour gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring to you the wealth of…
Nehemiah 1:6lexicallet your ear now be attentive and your eyes open, that you may listen to the prayer of your servant which I pray before…
Lamentations 2:18lexicalTheir heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yours…
Isaiah 21:9
Ezekiel 26:7lexical“For the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, wit…
Jeremiah 51:47lexicalTherefore behold, the days come that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land will…
Isaiah 21:15
1 Chronicles 5:18lexicalThe sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, abl…
Psalms 37:14lexicalThe wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill those who are upr…
Zechariah 9:13lexicalFor indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have loaded the bow with Ephraim. I will stir up your sons, Zion, against you…
Hosea 1:7lexicalBut I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, sw…
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Historical Context
Places and events in this chapter