Isaiah 21

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Proclamation about the coastal desert: As whirlwinds sweeping over the Negeb, he comes from thedesert, from a fearsome country.	1 The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the south, it cometh from the desert from a terrible land.
2 A harsh vision has been shown me, 'The traitor betrays and the despoiler despoils. Advance, Elam, laysiege, Media!' I have cut short all groaning.	2 A grievous vision is told me: he that is unfaithful dealeth unfaithfully : and he that is a spoiler, spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease.
3 This is why my loins are racked with pain, why I am seized with pangs like the pangs of a woman inlabour; I am too distressed to hear, too afraid to look.	3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain, anguish hath taken hold of me, as the anguish of a woman in labour: I fell down at the hearing of it, I was troubled at the seeing of it.
4 My heart is bewildered, dread overwhelms me, the twilight I longed for has become my horror.	4 My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me.
5 They lay the table, spread the cloth, they eat, they drink. Up, princes, grease the shield!	5 Prepare the table, behold in the watchtower them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield.
6 For this is what the Lord has told me, 'Go, post a look-out, let him report what he sees.	6 For thus hath the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman: and whatsoever he shall see, let him tell.
7 He will see cavalry, horsemen two by two, men mounted on donkeys, men mounted on camels; let himwatch alertly, be very alert indeed!'	7 And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed.
8 Then the look-out shouted, 'On the watchtower, Lord, I stay al day and at my post I stand al night.	8 And a lion cried out: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day: and I am upon my ward, standing whole nights.
9 Now the cavalry is coming, horsemen two by two.' He shouted again and said, 'Babylon has fallen, hasfal en, and al the images of her gods he has shattered to the ground!'	9 Behold this man cometh, the rider upon the chariot with two horsemen, and he answered, and said: Babylon is fallen, she is fallen, and all the graven gods thereof are broken unto the ground.
10 You whom I have threshed, grain of my threshing-floor, what I have heard from Yahweh Sabaoth, Godof Israel, I am tel ing you now.	10 O my thrashing and the children of my door, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you.
11 Proclamation about Dumah: From Seir, someone shouts to me, 'Watchman, what time of night?Watchman, what time of night?'	11 The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the eight? watchman, what of the night?
12 The watchman answers, 'Morning is coming, then night again. If you want to ask, ask! Come back!Come here!'	12 The watchman said: The morning cometh, also the night: if you seek, seek: return, come.
13 Proclamation about the wastelands: In the thickets, on the wastelands, you spend the night, youcaravans of Dedanites.	13 The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dedanim.
14 Bring water for the thirsty! The inhabitants of Tema went with bread to greet the fugitive.	14 Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land of the south, meet with bread him that fleeth.
15 For these have fled before the sword, the naked sword and the bent bow, the press of battle.	15 For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle.
16 For this is what the Lord has told me, 'In one year's time as a hired worker reckons it, al the glory ofKedar will be finished	16 For thus saith the Lord to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away.
17 and, of the valiant archers, the Kedarites, hardly any wil be left, for Yahweh, God of Israel, hasspoken.'	17 And the residue of the number of strong archers of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord the God of Israel hath spoken it.