(Revelation 18:1–8)

¹ 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.

² 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.”

³ 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.

⁴ My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror.

⁵ They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!

⁶ For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.

⁷ When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, fully alert.”

⁸ Then the lookout¹ shouted: “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post.

1. DSS and Syriac; MT lion

⁹ Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon!¹ All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”

1. See Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 18:2.

¹⁰ 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

(Isaiah 34:5–17)

¹¹ This is the burden against Dumah:¹ One calls to me from Seir,² “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”

1. Dumah is a wordplay on Edom, meaning silence.
2. Seir is another name for Edom.

¹² The watchman replies, “Morning has come, but also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again.”

The Burden against Arabia

¹³ This is the burden against Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.

¹⁴ Bring water for the thirsty, O dwellers of Tema; meet the refugees with food.

¹⁵ For they flee from the sword— the sword that is drawn— from the bow that is bent, and from the stress of battle.

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.