1 The burden against the desert of the sea: As tempests in the south pass, it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.
2 A harsh vision is revealed to me; the deceiver deceives, and the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media! I have caused all her sighing to cease.
3 Therefore my loins are filled [with] pain; pangs have taken hold on me like the pangs of a woman who travails; I was bowed down from hearing; I was troubled from seeing.
4 My heart wanders, terror overwhelms me; He has turned the twilight of my pleasure into trembling.
5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink; arise, rulers. Anoint the shield.
6 For so the LORD has said to me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he sees.
7 And he saw a chariot [with] a pair of horsemen, a chariot of an ass, and a chariot of a camel. And let him listen, very attentively.
8 And he cried, A lion! My lord, without ceasing, I stand on the watchtower by day, and I am stationed at my post all the nights.
9 And, behold, here comes a chariot of a man, a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon has fallen, has fallen! And all the graven images of her gods He has smashed to the ground.
10 O my threshing, and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard of Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.
11 The burden against Dumah: [He] calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
12 The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night; if you will inquire, inquire, and come again.
13 The burden against Arabia: You shall stay in the forest of Arabia, O traveling companies of Dedanites.
14 The people of the land of Tema brought water to him who was thirsty; [they went] before him who fled with their bread.
15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the press of war.
16 For so has the LORD said to me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail;
17 and the rest of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, shall be cut down; for Jehovah, God of Israel, has spoken.