1The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea: As tempests in the south pass, it comes from the desert, from a dreadful land.

2A harsh vision is revealed to me; the deceiver deceives, and the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media! I have caused all her sighing to cease.

3Therefore my loins are filled with pain; pangs have taken hold upon me like the pangs of a woman who travails; I was bowed down from hearing; I was so frightened that I could not see.

4My heart is bewildered, terror overwhelms me; the twilight of my pleasure has been turned into trembling.

5Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink; arise, rulers. Anoint the shield,

6For thus the LORD has said to me, "Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he sees."

7And when he sees a chariot with a pair of horsemen, a chariot of a donkey, and a chariot of a camel, then let him listen, very attentively.

8And he cried out as a lion, "My LORD, without ceasing, I stand upon the watchtower by day, and I am stationed at my post every night.

9And, behold, here comes a chariot of a man, a pair of horsemen." And he answered and said, "Babylon has fallen, has fallen! And all the graven images of her gods He has smashed to the ground."

10O my threshing, and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.

11The burden against Dumah: He calls to me out of Seir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?"

12The watchman said, "The morning comes, and also the night; if you will inquire, inquire, and come again."

13The burden against Arabia: You shall lodge in the forest of Arabia, O traveling companies of Dedanites.

14Bring water for the thirsty, O inhabitants of Tema, meet the fugitive with bread,

15For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war;

16For so has the LORD said to me, "Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail; 17And the rest of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, shall be cut down; for the LORD, God of Israel, has spoken it."