# Isaiah 21 
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1. The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. 
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2. A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam; lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end. 
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3. Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see. 
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4. My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. 
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5. They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; oil the shield! 
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6. For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees. 
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7. When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.” 
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8. Then he who saw cried out: “Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights. 
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9. And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!” And he answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.” 
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10. O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you. 
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11. The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?” 
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12. The watchman says: “Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again.” 
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13. The oracle concerning Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites. 
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14. To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema. 
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15. For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle. 
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16. For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.
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17. And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.” 

(ESV)