New International Version NIV
Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
1 A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.
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The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the south, it cometh from the desert from a terrible land.
2 A dire vision has been shown to me: The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot. Elam, attack! Media, lay siege! I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.
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A grievous vision is told me: he that is unfaithful dealeth unfaithfully: and he that is a spoiler, spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease.
3 At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see.
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Therefore are my loins filled with pain, anguish hath taken hold of me, as the anguish of a woman in labour: I fell down at the hearing of it, I was troubled at the seeing of it.
4 My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become a horror to me.
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My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me.
5 They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields!
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Prepare the table, behold in the watchtower them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield.
6 This is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.
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For thus hath the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman: and whatsoever he shall see, let him tell.
7 When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert.”
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And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed.
8 And the lookout shouted, “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post.
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And a lion cried out: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day: and I am upon my ward, standing whole nights.
9 Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!’ ”
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Behold this man cometh, the rider upon the chariot with two horsemen, and he answered, and said: Babylon is fallen, she is fallen, and all the graven gods thereof are broken unto the ground.
10 My people who are crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD Almighty, from the God of Israel.
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O my thrashing, and the children of my floor, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you.
11 A prophecy against Dumah : Someone calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”
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The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the night? watchman, what of the night?
12 The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but also the night. If you would ask, then ask; and come back yet again.”
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The watchman said: The morning cometh, also the night: if you seek, seek: return, come.
13 A prophecy against Arabia: You caravans of Dedanites, who camp in the thickets of Arabia,
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The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dedanim.
14 bring water for the thirsty; you who live in Tema, bring food for the fugitives.
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Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land of the south, meet with bread him that fleeth.
15 They flee from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow and from the heat of battle.
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For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle.
16 This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.
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For thus saith the Lord to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away.
17 The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
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And the residue of the number of strong archers of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord the God of Israel hath spoken it.
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