Isaiah 21:1-10

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

1 The ¹oracle concerning the wilderness of ²the sea. ³As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land.

2 A stern vision is told to me; ⁴the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O ⁵Elam; lay siege, O ⁶Media; all the ⁷sighing she has caused I bring to an end.

3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; ⁸pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

4 My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; ⁹the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

5 ¹⁰They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, ^[a] they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; ¹¹oil the shield!

6 For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees.

7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently. ”

8 Then he who saw cried out: ^{[b] 12}“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights.

9 And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs! ” ¹³And he answered, ¹⁴“Fallen, fallen is Babylon; ¹⁵and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground. ”

10 O ¹⁶my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.

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. 21:1 See ch. 13:1
• 2. 21:1 Jer. 51:36, 42
• 3. 21:1 Jer. 51:1
• 4. 21:2 ch. 24:16; 33:1
• 5. 21:2 See ch. 11:11
• 6. 21:2 See ch. 13:17
• 7. 21:2 Ezek. 9:4
• 8. 21:3 See ch. 13:8
• 9. 21:4 [Deut. 28:67]
• 10. 21:5 Jer. 51:39, 57
• 11. 21:5 2 Sam. 1:21
• 12. 21:8 Hab. 2:1
• 13. 21:9 [Hab. 2:2]
• 14. 21:9 Jer. 51:8; Cited Rev. 14:8; 18:2
• 15. 21:9 ch. 46:1
• 16. 21:10 Jer. 51:33; Amos 1:3; [Mic. 4:13]

Footnotes

• [a] 21:5 Or 'they set the watchman'
• [b] 21:8 Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac; Masoretic Text 'Then a lion cried out', or 'Then he cried out like a lion'