The destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians: a prophecy
against the Edomites and the Arabians.
21:1. The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the
south, it cometh from the desert from a terrible land.
The desert of the sea. . .So Babylon is here called, because from a city
as full of people as the sea is with water, it was become a desert.
21:2. 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.
O Elam. . .That is, O Persia.
21:3. 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.
21:4. My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become
a wonder to me.
21:5. Prepare the table, behold in the watchtower them that eat and
drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield.
21:6. For thus hath the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman: and
whatsoever he shall see, let him tell.
21:7. 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.
A rider upon an ass, etc. . .These two riders are the kings of the
Persians and Medes.
21:8. 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.
And a lion cried out. . .That is, I Isaias seeing the approaching ruin
of Babylon, have cried out as a lion roaring.
21:9. 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.
21:10. O my thrashing, and the children of my floor, that which I have
heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto
you.
21:11. The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of
the night? watchman, what of the night?
Duma. . .That is, Idumea, or Edom.
21:12. The watchman said: The morning cometh, also the night: if you
seek, seek: return, come.
21:13. The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep,
in the paths of Dedanim.
21:14. Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land
of the south, meet with bread him that fleeth.
21:15. 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.
21:16. 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.
Cedar. . .Arabia.
21:17. 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.