Isaiah 21:1-10

Babylon Is Fallen

1 This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: ¹ Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.

2 A 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.”

3 Therefore 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.

4 My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight I desired has turned to horror.

5 They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!

6 For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.

7 When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, fully alert.”

8 Then the lookout ^[a] shouted: “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post.

9 Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! ^[b] All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”

10 O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.

Isaiah 21:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 21

This chapter contains prophecies against Babylon, Idumea, and Arabia. The prophecy against Babylon is called "the burden of the desert of the sea"; whose enemies are described by the fierce manner of their coming, and by the land from whence they came, Isa 21:1 which vision being declared to the prophet, is called a grievous one; what made it so was treachery among themselves; and the Medes and Persians are invited to besiege them, Isa 21:2 their terror and distress upon it are represented by the pains of a woman in travail, whom the prophet personates, Isa 21:3,4 and by the methods they took to defend themselves, to which they were alarmed, when in the greatest security and jollity, Isa 21:5 all which is illustrated by the vision of the watchman, who saw the Medes and Persians on the march, signified by a chariot and a couple of horsemen, who declares the fall of Babylon, and the destruction of its gods, Isa 21:6-9 which would issue in the good and comfort of the church and people of God, Isa 21:10 then follows the prophecy against Idumea, which consists of a question put to the watchman, and his answer to it; to which an exhortation is added, Isa 21:11,12 and the chapter concludes with another prophecy against Arabia: the calamities threatened are lodging in a forest, thirst, famine, and fleeing from the sword Isa 21:13-15, and the time is fixed when all this should be, by which their glory would fail, and the number of their archers and mighty men be lessened; for the confirmation of which the divine testimony is annexed, Isa 21:16,17.

Cross References

• 1. (Revelation 18:1–8)

Footnotes

• [a] DSS and Syriac; MT lion
• [b] See Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 18:2.