¹The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land.

²A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam; lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.³Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.⁴My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.⁵They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; oil the shield!⁶For thus the Lord said to me: "Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees.⁷When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently."⁸Then he who saw cried out: "Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights.⁹And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!" And he answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground."

¹⁰O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.

¹¹The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Seir, "Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?"

¹²The watchman says: "Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again."

¹³The oracle concerning Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.

¹⁴To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema.¹⁵For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle.¹⁶For thus the Lord said to me, "Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.¹⁷And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken."