Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon
The aoracle concerning the bwilderness of the sea.
As cwhirlwinds in the Negev sweep on,
It comes from the wilderness, from a fearsome land.
2 A aharsh vision has been declared to me;
The btreacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.
Go up, cElam, lay siege, Media;
I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused.
3 For this reason my aloins are full of anguish;
Pains have seized me like the pains of a bwoman in labor.
I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.
4 My heart reels; horror terrorizes me;
The twilight I longed for has been aturned for me into trembling.
5 They aset the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, commanders, oil the shields,”
6 For thus the Lord says to me,
“Go, station the lookout, let him adeclare what he sees.
7 Indeed, he shall see ariders, horsemen in pairs,
Riders of donkeys, riders of camels,
So let him pay close attention, very close attention.”
8 Then the lookout called,
“aO Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
9 Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one answered and said, “aFallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the bgraven images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
10 O my atrampled people and my afflicted of the threshing floor!
What I have heard from Yahweh of hosts,
The God of Israel, I have declared to you.