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Like storms that pass over the Negev,
it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.
² A troubling vision is declared to me:
“The treacherous one acts treacherously,^(C1)
and the destroyer destroys.
Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!
I will put an end to all the groaning.”³ Therefore I am^(F1) filled with anguish.
Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.^(C1)
I am too perplexed to hear,
too dismayed to see.⁴ My heart staggers;
horror terrifies me.
He has turned my last glimmer of hope^(F1)
into sheer terror.^(C1)5 Prepare a table,^(C1) and spread out a carpet!
Eat and drink!
Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!⁶ For the Lord has said to me,
“Go, post a lookout;
let him report what he sees.⁷ When he sees riders—
pairs of horsemen,
riders on donkeys,
riders on camels—
he must pay close attention.”⁸ Then the lookout^(F1) reported,
“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,^(C1)
and I stay at my post all night.⁹ Look, riders come—
horsemen in pairs.”
And he answered, saying,
“Babylon has fallen,^(C1) has fallen.
All the images of her gods
have been shattered on the ground.”^(C2)10 My people who have been crushed
on the threshing floor,^(C1)
I have declared to you
what I have heard from the Lord of Armies,
the God of Israel.

One calls to me from Seir,^(C3)
“Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?”
¹² The watchman said,
“Morning has come, and also night.
If you want to ask, ask!
Come back again.”

In the desert^(F1) brush
you will camp for the night,
you caravans of Dedanites.^(C2)
14 Bring water for the thirsty.
The inhabitants of the land of Tema^(C1)
meet^(F1) the refugees with food.¹⁵ For they have fled from swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bow that is strung,
and from the stress of battle.