English / ERV
Isaiah 21
Easy-to-Read Version, 2006
- 1This is a message[1] about the “desert by the sea”[2]: It is coming like a storm blowing through the Negev. It is coming in from the desert, from a frightening nation.
- 2I was given a vision of the hard times to come. I see traitors turning against you. I see people taking your wealth. Elam, go against them! Media, surround the city! I will put an end to all their moaning.
- 3I saw those terrible things, and now I am afraid. My fear makes my stomach hurt like the pain of giving birth. What I hear frightens me. What I see makes me shake with fear.
- 4I am worried and shaking with fear. My pleasant evening has become a nightmare.
- 5People are rushing around shouting their orders: “Set the table! Post the guard! Get something to eat and drink! Officers, get up! Polish your shields!”
- 6The Lord said to me, “Go find someone to guard this city. He must report whatever he sees.
- 7Whether he sees a chariot and a team of horses or men riding donkeys or camels, he must listen carefully.”[3]
- 8Then one day the watchman[4] called out, “My master, every day I have been in the watchtower[5] watching. Every night I have been standing on duty.
- 9Look! I see a man in a chariot with a team of horses.[6]” The messenger said, “Babylon has been defeated! It has fallen to the ground! All the statues of her false gods were thrown to the ground and broken to pieces.”
- 10My people, you will be like the grain crushed on my threshing floor. I have told you everything I heard from the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel.
- 11This is a message about Dumah[7]: There is someone calling to me from Seir,[8] “Guard, how much of the night is left? How much longer will it be night?”
- 12The guard answered, “Morning is coming, but then night will come again. If you have something else to ask, then come back[9] later and ask.”