1The message about the desert by the sea. Like a whirlwind sweeping through the South, it comes from the desert, from a terrifying land.
2A terrible vision has been shown to me. The traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam! Attack! I have put an end to all of Media’s groaning.
3Because of this, my body is full of pain. Pangs have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can’t hear. I am so distressed that I can’t see.
4My heart pounds. Terror has overwhelmed me. The evening I longed for has turned into horror for me.
5They prepare the table. They set the guard. They eat. They drink. Get up, you leaders, oil your shields!
6For the Lord said to me, “Go, set a watchman. Let him report what he sees.”
7When he sees a group of horsemen in pairs, a group of donkeys, a group of camels, he must pay close attention.
8He cried out like a lion: “Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day, and every night I stay at my post.
9Look, here comes a group of men, horsemen in pairs!” He announced, “Gone, Babylon has fallen; and all the carved images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
10“You are my threshed grain, the grain from my threshing floor!” What I have heard from Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, I have told you.
11A message about Dumah. Someone calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, how much of the night is left? Watchman, how much of the night is left?”
12The watchman replied, “Morning is coming, but also night. If you want to ask, then ask. Come back again.”
13A message about Arabia. You will camp in the forests of Arabia, you caravans of Dedanites.
14They brought water to the thirsty. The people of Tema met the escaping refugees with their bread.
15For they were fleeing from swords, from drawn swords, from bent bows, and from the harshness of battle.
16For the Lord said to me, “Within one year, precisely as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will disappear,
17and only a few of the remaining archers, the mighty warriors of Kedar, will be left; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”