As ^(A)whirlwinds in the South pass through,
So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.
² A distressing vision is declared to me;
^(B)The treacherous dealer deals treacherously,
And the plunderer plunders.
^(C)Go up, O Elam!
Besiege, O Media!
All its sighing I have made to cease.

³ Therefore ^(D)my loins are filled with pain;
^(E)Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor.
I was ^[b]distressed when I heard it;
I was dismayed when I saw it.
⁴ My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me;
^(F)The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.
^5 (G)Prepare the table,
Set a watchman in the tower,
Eat and drink.
Arise, you princes,
Anoint the shield!

⁶ For thus has the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman,
Let him declare what he sees.”
⁷ And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen,
A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels,
And he listened earnestly with great care.
^8 [c]Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord!
I stand continually on the ^(H)watchtower in the daytime;
I have sat at my post every night.
⁹ And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!”
Then he answered and said,
^(I)“Babylon is fallen, is fallen!
And ^(J)all the carved images of her gods
He has broken to the ground.”

^10 (K)Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor!
That which I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel,
I have declared to you.

He calls to me out of ^(M)Seir,
“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?”
¹² The watchman said,
“The morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
Return! Come back!”

In the forest in Arabia you will lodge,
O you traveling companies ^(O)of Dedanites.
¹⁴ O inhabitants of the land of Tema,
Bring water to him who is thirsty;
With their bread they met him who fled.
¹⁵ For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword,
From the bent bow, and from the distress of war.