Commentary on Isaiah - Volume 2

1The burden of the desert of the sea.
As storms that pass from a southerly direction,
It will come from the wilderness,
From a terrible land.

2A harsh vision hath been declared to me,
The transgressor to the transgressor,
And the plunderer to the plunderer.
Go up, O Persian! Besiege, O Mede!
All his groaning have I made to cease.

3Therefore are my loins filled with pain;
Pangs have seized me, as the pangs of a woman in labour;
I am bowed down at hearing,
And am dismayed at seeing.

4My heart is shaken;
Terror hath overwhelmed me;
The night of my pleasures
He hath changed to terror.

5Prepare the table;
Watch in the watch-tower;
Eat, drink;
Arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.

6For thus hath the Lord said to me:
Go, appoint a watchman,
That he may declare what he seeth.

7And he saw a chariot of a couple of horsemen,
A chariot of an ass, and a chariot of a camel;
Next, he looked attentively,
And watched eagerly.

8Then he cried, A lion.
On my watch-tower, my lord, I continually stand by day,
And in my ward am I stationed whole nights.

9And behold, here cometh a chariot of a man,
A couple of horsemen.
And he spake, and said,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen!
And all the graven images of her gods
Hath he broken to the ground.

10O my thrashing, and the corn of my floor!
I have related to you what I have heard
From Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel.

11The burden of Dumah.
He calleth to me out of Seir:
Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?

12The watchman said:
The morning cometh, afterwards the night.
If ye will inquire, inquire ye.
Return, come.

13The burden in Arabia.
In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge,
In the ways of Dedanim.

14To meet the thirsty bring waters,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema!
Relieve the fugitive with thy bread.

15For they flee from the face of the swords,
From the face of the drawn sword,
From the face of the bent bow,
From the face of the grievousness of war.

16For thus hath the Lord said to me:
Yet a year, according to the years of a hireling,
Then shall all the glory of Kedar fail;

17And then shall be diminished the number of the archers,
Which shall be reckoned among the mighty sons of Kedar;
For Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken it.