| New King James Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea. As whirlwinds in the South pass through, So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. | 1This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror. |
| 2A distressing vision is declared to me; The treacherous dealer deals treacherously, And the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media! All its sighing I have made to cease. | 2A dire vision is declared to me: “The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end to all her groaning.” |
| 3Therefore my loins are filled with pain; Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. I was distressed when I heard it; I was dismayed when I saw it. | 3Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see. |
| 4My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me; The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me. | 4My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror. |
| 5Prepare the table, Set a watchman in the tower, Eat and drink. Arise, you princes, Anoint the shield! | 5They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields! |
| 6For thus has the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman, Let him declare what he sees.” | 6For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees. |
| 7And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels, And he listened earnestly with great care. | 7When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, fully alert.” |
| 8Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord! I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime; I have sat at my post every night. | 8Then the lookout shouted: “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post. |
| 9And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!” Then he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.” | 9Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!” |
| 10Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I have declared to you. | 10O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel. |
| 11The burden against Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” | 11This is the burden against Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?” |
| 12The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; Return! Come back!” | 12The watchman replies, “Morning has come, but also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again.” |
| 13The burden against Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, O you traveling companies of Dedanites. | 13This is the burden against Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge, O caravans of Dedanites. |
| 14O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Bring water to him who is thirsty; With their bread they met him who fled. | 14Bring water for the thirsty, O dwellers of Tema; meet the refugees with food. |
| 15For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, From the bent bow, and from the distress of war. | 15For they flee from the sword—the sword that is drawn—from the bow that is bent, and from the stress of battle. |
| 16For thus the LORD has said to me: “Within a year, according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of Kedar will fail; | 16For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone. |
| 17and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken it.” | 17The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken. |
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