XXI.--1. Like whirlwinds in the south, as to rushing from the
wilderness it comes, from a terrible land. 2. A hard vision it is
revealed to me; the deceiver deceiving and the spoiler spoiling. Go,
up, O Elam! besiege, O Media! All sighing have I made to cease.
3. Therefore my loins are filled with pain; pangs have seized me like
the pangs of a travailing woman; I writhe from hearing; I am shocked
from seeing. 4. My heart wonders; horror appals me; the twilight of
my pleasure He has put for fear for me.
5. Set the table, spread the cloth, eat, drink; arise, ye chiefs,
anoint the shield! 6. For thus saith the Lord to me, Go, set the
watchman: that which he sees let him tell. 7. And should he see
cavalry--pairs of horsemen--ass-riders--camel-riders--then shall he
hearken with a harkening a great harkening. 8. And he cries--a
lion--on the watch-tower, Lord, I am standing always by day, and on
my ward I am stationed all the night. 9. And behold, this comes,
mounted men, pairs of horsemen. And he speaks again, and says,
Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the images of her gods He has
broken to the earth.
10. O my threshing, and the son of my threshing-floor! What I have
heard from Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have told you.