1 T he oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As windstorms in the Negev sweep on, It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.

2 A harsh vision has been shown to me; The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media; I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused.

3 F or this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.

4 M y mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

5 T hey set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; “Rise up, captains, oil the shields,”

6 F or thus the Lord says to me, “Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.

7 “ When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys, a train of camels, Let him pay close attention, very close attention.”

8 T hen the lookout called, “ O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

9 “ Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one said, “ Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”

10 O my threshed people, and my afflicted of the threshing floor! What I have heard from the Lord of hosts, The God of Israel, I make known to you. Oracles about Edom and Arabia

11 T he oracle concerning Edom. One keeps calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, how far gone is the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night?”

12 T he watchman says, “Morning comes but also night. If you would inquire, inquire; Come back again.”

13 T he oracle about Arabia. In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites.

14 B ring water for the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Meet the fugitive with bread.

15 F or they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow And from the press of battle.

16 F or thus the Lord said to me, “In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will terminate;

17 a nd the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord God of Israel has spoken.”