Isaiah 21:2-9 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.”

MSB⁽ⁱ⁾ 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 lookout shouted: “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post. ⁹ Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”