Yeshayah 21

1The massa (burden) concerning the Midbar Yam (desert by the sea) :

As sufot (whirlwinds) in the Negev sweep through;

so it cometh from the midbar, from eretz nora'ah.

2A chazut kashah (harsh vision) is declared unto me;

the boged (traitor) dealeth treacherously, and the shoded (destroyer) destroyeth.

Go up, O Eilam; besiege, O Media;

all the groaning she caused have I made to cease.

3Therefore are my loins filled with pain;

tzirim (pangs) have taken hold upon me,

as the tzirim (pangs) of a woman in labor;

I was bowed down at the hearing of it;

I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

4My lev panted,

fearfulness seized upon me;

the neshef (twilight) of my longing

hath become unto me as kharadah (shuddering horror) .

5[They are] setting the shulchan, spreading the tzafit (dining carpet) ,

to eat, to drink;

arise, ye sarim (princes) , and anoint the mogen.

6For thus hath Adonoi said unto me,

Go, post the metzapeh (watchman) ,

let him report what he seeth.

7When he sees riders with a pair of parashim,

donkey riders and camel riders,

then he pays heed diligently with great care;

8And the one seeing cried out,

Adonoi, I stand continually on the mitzpeh (watchtower) in the daytime,

and I am set in my mishmeret (guard duty) kol halailot (every night) ,

9And, hinei, here cometh a merkavah with a man,

a pair of parashim. And he answered and said,

Bavel (Babylon) is fallen, is fallen;

and all the pesilim (images) of her elohim (g-ds)

hath been shattered on the ground.

10O my threshed, and the grain of my goren (threshing floor) ;[#21:10 people]

that which I have heard of Hashem Tzva'os Elohei Yisroel,

have I declared unto you.

11The massa (burden) of Dumah:[#21:11 Edom]

One calleth to me out of Se'ir,

Shomer (watchman) , what of the lailah?

Shomer, what of the lailah?

12The shomer said, The boker cometh, and also the lailah;

if ye will inquire, inquire ye;

shuvu (return) , come.

13The massa (burden) concerning Arabia:

In the ya'ar (forest) of Arabia shall ye encamp

O ye caravans of Dedanim.

14The inhabitants of Eretz Tema brought mayim

to him that was tzameh (thirsty) ,

they met with their lechem him that fled.

15For they fled from the charavot (swords) ,

from the drawn cherev,

and from the bent keshet (bow) ,

and from the grievousness of milchamah (war) .

16For thus hath Adonoi said unto me, Within a shanah (year) , according to the way a year is counted by a sakhir (hireling, hired servant) , all the kavod of Kedar shall end;

17And the remainder of the mispar (number) of archers, the gibborim (mighty men) of the Bnei Kedar, shall be few; for Hashem Elohei Yisroel hath spoken.

THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE FOURTH EDITION REVISED © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021, 2024.
Published by: Artists for Israel International