Isaiah 21

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	NEW JERUSALEM
1 The burden of the desert of the sea. Just as the whirlwinds approach from Africa, it approaches from the desert, from a terrible land.	1 Proclamation about the coastal desert: As whirlwinds sweeping over the Negeb, he comes from thedesert, from a fearsome country.
2 A difficult vision has been announced to me: he who is unbelieving, he acts unfaithfully, and he who is a plunderer, he devastates. Ascend, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I have caused all its mourning to cease.	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.
3 Because of this, my lower back has been filled with pain, and anguish has possessed me, like the anguish of a woman in labor. I fell down when I heard it. I was disturbed when I saw it.	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.
4 My heart withered. The darkness stupefied me. Babylon, my beloved, has become a wonder to me.	4 My heart is bewildered, dread overwhelms me, the twilight I longed for has become my horror.
5 Prepare the table. Contemplate, from a place of observation, those who eat and drink. Rise up, you leaders! Take up the shield!	5 They lay the table, spread the cloth, they eat, they drink. Up, princes, grease the shield!
6 For the Lord has said this to me: “Go and station a watchman. And let him announce whatever he will see.”	6 For this is what the Lord has told me, 'Go, post a look-out, let him report what he sees.
7 And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, and a rider on an donkey, and a rider on a camel. And he considered them diligently, with an intense gaze.	7 He will see cavalry, horsemen two by two, men mounted on donkeys, men mounted on camels; let himwatch alertly, be very alert indeed!'
8 And a lion cried out: “I am on the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day. And I am at my station, standing throughout the night.	8 Then the look-out shouted, 'On the watchtower, Lord, I stay al day and at my post I stand al night.
9 Behold, a certain man approaches, a man riding on a two-horse chariot.” And he responded, and he said: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! And all its graven gods have been crushed into the earth!	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!'
10 O my threshed grain! O sons of my threshing floor! What I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have announced to you.”	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.
11 The burden of Dumah, cried out to me from Seir: “Watchman, how goes the night? Watchman, how goes the night?”	11 Proclamation about Dumah: From Seir, someone shouts to me, 'Watchman, what time of night?Watchman, what time of night?'
12 The watchman said: “Morning approaches with the night. If you are seeking: seek, and convert, and approach.”	12 The watchman answers, 'Morning is coming, then night again. If you want to ask, ask! Come back!Come here!'
13 The burden in Arabia. In the forest you shall sleep, in the evening on the paths of Dedanim.	13 Proclamation about the wastelands: In the thickets, on the wastelands, you spend the night, youcaravans of Dedanites.
14 You who inhabit the land of the south: upon meeting the thirsty, bring water; meet the fugitive with bread.	14 Bring water for the thirsty! The inhabitants of Tema went with bread to greet the fugitive.
15 For they are fleeing before the face of swords, before the face of a sword hanging over them, before the face of a bent bow, before the face of a grievous battle.	15 For these have fled before the sword, the naked sword and the bent bow, the press of battle.
16 For the Lord said this to me: “After one more year, just like one year for a hired hand, all the glory of Kedar will be taken away.	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
17 And the remainder of the multitude of strong archers from the sons of Kedar will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”	17 and, of the valiant archers, the Kedarites, hardly any wil be left, for Yahweh, God of Israel, hasspoken.'