Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21
Isaiah 21 NWT - New World Translation Chapter 21 of Isaiah—New World Translation (NWT)
- ¶ The pronouncement against the wilderness of the sea:1 Like storm winds2 in the south[a] in moving onward, from the wilderness it is coming, from a fear-inspiring land.3
- There is a hard vision4 that has been told to me: The treacherous dealer is dealing treacherously, and the despoiler is despoiling.5 Go up, O Eʹlam! Lay siege, O Meʹdi·a!6 All sighing due to her I have caused to cease.7
- That is why my hips have become full of severe pains.8 Convulsions themselves have grabbed hold of me, like the convulsions of a woman that is giving birth.9 I have become disconcerted so that I do not hear; I have become disturbed so that I do not see.
- My heart has wandered about; a shuddering itself has terrified me. The twilight for which I had an attachment has been made for me a trembling.10
- ¶ Let there be a setting of the table in order, an arranging of the location of seats, an eating, a drinking![b]11 Get up, YOU princes,12 anoint the shield.13
- For this is what Jehovah[c] has said to me:
¶ “Go, post a lookout that he may tell just what he sees.”14 - ¶ And he saw a war chariot [with] a span of steeds,[d] a war chariot of asses, a war chariot of camels. And he paid strict attention,[e] with much attentiveness.
- And he proceeded to call out like a lion:15 “Upon the watchtower,[f] O Jehovah,[g] I am standing constantly by day, and at my guardpost I am stationed all the nights.16
- And here, now, there is coming a war chariot of men,[h] [with] a span of steeds!”17
¶ And he began to speak up and say: “She has fallen! Babylon has fallen,18 and all the graven images of her gods[i] he has broken to the earth!”19 - ¶ O my threshed ones[j] and the son of my threshing floor,[k]20 what I have heard from Jehovah of armies, the God[l] of Israel, I have reported to YOU people.
- ¶ The pronouncement against Duʹmah:[m] To me there is one calling out from Seʹir:21 “Watchman, what about the night? Watchman, what about the night?”22
- The watchman said: “The morning has to come, and also the night. If YOU people would inquire, inquire. Come again!”
- ¶ The pronouncement against the desert plain:[n] In the forest in the desert plain YOU will spend the night, O caravans of men of Deʹdan.23
- To meet the thirsty one BRING water. O YOU inhabitants of the land of Teʹma,24 confront the one fleeing away with bread for him.
- For because of the swords they have fled away, because of the drawn sword, and because of the bent bow and because of the heaviness of the war.
- ¶ For this is what Jehovah[o] has said to me: “Within yet a year, according to the years of a hired laborer,25 all the glory of Keʹdar26 must even come to its end.
- And the ones remaining over of the number of bow[men], the mighty men of the sons of Keʹdar, will become few,27 for Jehovah himself, the God of Israel, has spoken [it].”28
FOOTNOTES
- ^ Or, “Negeb.”
- ^ In Heb. these four verbs are in the infinitive absolute, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
- ^ One of 134 scribal changes from YHWH to ʼAdho·naiʹ. See App 1B.
- ^ Or, “a couple of horsemen.”
- ^ Lit., “he paid attention with attentiveness.”
- ^ Or, “lookout post.” Heb., mits·pehʹ.
- ^ See vs 6 ftn.
- ^ “Men.” Heb., ʼish, sing. but in a collective sense.
- ^ “Her gods.” Heb., ʼelo·heyʹha.
- ^ Lit., “O that which is trampled down [in threshing] belonging to me!”
- ^ Or, “and my threshed one!”
- ^ “The God of.” Heb., ʼElo·hehʹ.
- ^ “Dumah” (meaning “Silence”), MTSyVg; LXX, “Idumea,” that is, the land of the Edomites.
- ^ “Against the desert plain.” Heb., baʽ·ravʹ (ʽaravʹ corresponds to ʽara·vahʹ, according to KB, p. 733); SyVg, “Arabia.”
- ^ See vs 6 ftn.
REFERENCES
- ^ Is 13:1, 20; Je 51:42
- ^ Zc 9:14
- ^ Is 13:4, 18
- ^ Is 13:9; Re 18:2
- ^ Is 33:1; Je 51:48, 53
- ^ Je 51:11, 28; Da 5:28; 8:20
- ^ Ps 137:1; Is 14:7; 35:10; Je 31:12
- ^ Hab 3:16
- ^ Je 50:43; 1Th 5:3
- ^ De 28:67
- ^ Is 22:13; Da 5:1
- ^ Je 50:35; 51:57
- ^ 2Sa 1:21
- ^ 2Ki 9:17; Is 62:6; Je 51:12; Eze 3:17; 33:3; Hab 2:1; Mt 24:45
- ^ Is 5:29
- ^ Hab 2:1
- ^ Je 50:3, 9; 51:27
- ^ Is 13:19; 14:4; 45:1; Je 50:3; 51:8; Da 5:28; Re 14:8; 18:2
- ^ Je 50:2; 51:44, 52
- ^ 1Ki 8:46; 2Ki 13:7; Is 1:25; Mt 3:12; Heb 12:6
- ^ Ge 32:3; De 2:8; Ps 137:7
- ^ Re 16:15
- ^ Eze 27:15
- ^ Jb 6:19; Je 25:23
- ^ Jb 7:1; Is 16:14
- ^ Ge 25:13; Ps 120:5; Sg 1:5; Is 42:11; Eze 27:21
- ^ Je 49:28
- ^ Nu 23:19; Is 46:10; 55:11
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