UNROLL
The last hour of night: a lone watchman seen from behind, small on the flat top of a mud-brick watchtower, his cloak drawn round him, the desert dark below and a faint gray line at the horizon.

The nations judged

Isaiah 21

A watchman waits all night for news. What news are you waiting for?

17 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

Where we are

  1. 1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
  2. 6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
  3. 7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
  4. 13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earthChapter 21
  5. 24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
  6. 28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
  7. 36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
  8. 40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
  9. 49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
  10. 56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

Babylon Is Fallen

Isaiah
Hot afternoon on the flat brown Negev: three tall dust whirlwinds spinning across the plain, a long low cloud of dust rising far behind them from the desert.

This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea:

Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev,

an invader comes from the desert,

from a land of terror.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God

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.”

Isaiah

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.

Isaiah

My heart falters;

fear makes me tremble.

The twilight I desired

has turned to horror.

Isaiah
Isaiah

They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet,

they eat, they drink!

Question

Quick question

In the dire vision, the LORD calls armies against “the Desert by the Sea,” Babylon. Look at verse 2.

Which two peoples are told to go up against Babylon?

Isaiah

Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!

God

For this is what the Lord says to me:

“Go, post a lookout

and have him report what he sees.

God
Dusk on the desert plain: riders coming two by two out of the haze, a pair of horsemen, a pair on donkeys and a pair on camels, dust rising behind them, far off and small.

When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen,

riders on donkeys, riders on camels,

he must be alert, fully alert.”

Isaiah

Then the lookout shouted:

“Day after day, my lord,

I stand on the watchtower;

night after night

I stay at my post.

Look, here come the riders,

horsemen in pairs.”

Isaiah

And one answered, saying:

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon!

Isaiah 21:9

Isaiah
Gray morning in a Babylonian temple court of mud brick and blue glazed tile: robed stone god figures toppled from their plinths and broken across the pavement, the plinths empty.

All the images of her gods

lie shattered on the ground!”

Isaiah
Isaiah

O my people, crushed on the threshing floor,

I tell you what I have heard

from the LORD of Hosts,

the God of Israel.

The Burden against Edom

ElamMediaSeir (Edom)KedarBabylonJerusalemDumah (site uncertain)TemaDedan

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

The desert burdens

Babylon by the eastern rivers, with Elam and Media beyond; Edom, Dumah and the oases of Arabia on the desert roads.

Isaiah
Night in the red sandstone heights of Edom: dark rose cliffs and a ravine, one small watch fire on a ledge far off, a starry sky beginning at one edge to pale.

This is the burden against Dumah:

One calls to me from Seir,

“Watchman, what is left of the night?

Watchman, what is left of the night?”

Isaiah

The watchman replies, “Morning has come, but also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again.”

The Burden against Arabia

Isaiah

This is the burden against Arabia:

In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge,

O caravans of Dedanites.

Isaiah
Isaiah

Bring water for the thirsty,

O dwellers of Tema;

meet the refugees with food.

Isaiah

For they flee from the sword—

the sword that is drawn—

from the bow that is bent,

and from the stress of battle.

God

For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

God
Dusk in the open desert: a few black goat-hair tents of Kedar with their sides rolled down, two unstrung bows leaning on a tent pole, a handful of men far off, a wide quiet sky above.

The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

0:07

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

LORD, I am waiting through the night for Your morning. Keep me watching at my post, and make me quick to bring water to the thirsty and bread to those who flee. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 21

0 of 66 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

And one answered, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon!

Isaiah 21:9

or swipe left