Isaiah 21
About IsaiahWritten by AI
Isaiah is the first of the major prophets and one of the books the New Testament quotes most often. Isaiah son of Amoz preached in Jerusalem from about 740 to 700 BC, during the reigns of four kings of Judah, while the Assyrian empire threatened the land. Many scholars think chapters 40 to 66 come from later writers in the time of the exile and return. Many Christians hold that Isaiah wrote the whole book, noting that the New Testament quotes both halves under his name.
The book moves from judgment to comfort. Chapters 1 to 39 confront Judah's sin and the proud nations, with the history of King Hezekiah at the center. From chapter 40 the tone changes: “Comfort, comfort My people.” God promises to bring His people home, and the book ends with new heavens and a new earth.
Watch for God's title, the Holy One of Israel, and for the promised King from David's line and the Servant of the LORD who suffers for others. Christians see both fulfilled in Jesus, though some prophecies are read differently among believers.
Before you read Isaiah 21Written by AI
Three short messages. A watchman sees riders and cries out that Babylon has fallen and its idols are shattered. Then a voice from Edom asks how much of the night is left. Last comes a word to the tribes of Arabia. Notice how the prophet himself is shaken by the visions he receives.
Babylon Is Fallen
This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea:
Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev,
an invader comes from the desert,
from a land of terror.
A dire vision is declared to me:
“The traitor still betrays,
and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media!
I will put an end to all her groaning.”
Therefore my body is filled with anguish.
Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor.
I am bewildered to hear,
I am dismayed to see.
My heart falters;
fear makes me tremble.
The twilight I desired
has turned to horror.
They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet,
they eat, they drink!
Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!
For this is what the Lord says to me:
“Go, post a lookout
and have him report what he sees.
When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
he must be alert, fully alert.”
Then the lookout shouted:
“Day after day, my lord,
I stand on the watchtower;
night after night
I stay at my post.
Look, here come the riders,
horsemen in pairs.”
And one answered, saying:
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon!
All the images of her gods
lie shattered on the ground!”
O my people, crushed on the threshing floor,
I tell you what I have heard
from the LORD of Hosts,
the God of Israel.
The Burden against Edom
This is the burden against Dumah:
One calls to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
The watchman replies,
“Morning has come, but also the night.
If you would inquire, then inquire.
Come back yet again.”
The Burden against Arabia
This is the burden against Arabia:
In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge,
O caravans of Dedanites.
Bring water for the thirsty,
O dwellers of Tema;
meet the refugees with food.
For they flee from the sword—
the sword that is drawn—
from the bow that is bent,
and from the stress of battle.
For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone. The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.”
For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.