1 The oracle {masa: prophetic pronouncement} concerning the desert of the sea comes like storms passing through the Negev {Negev: southern wilderness}, emerging from the wilderness and from a dreadful land.
2 A harsh vision has been declared to me; the betrayer acts treacherously, and the spoiler {shoded: devastator} deals violently. Go up, Elam! Besiege, Media! I have put an end to all her sighing {anchatah: groaning in distress}.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in labor. I was bent over so that I could scarcely hear {mishmoa: faint sound}, and I was dismayed so that I could scarcely see {mereot: unsettling vision}.
4 My heart has wandered, horror {pallatsut: overwhelming dread} has terrified me; the twilight I desired he has set for me as trembling {lacharadah: intense fear}.
5 Prepare the table, set the watch {tsafit: lookout duty}, eat, drink. Arise, princes, and anoint the shield {magen: protective covering}.
6 For thus the Lord {Adonai, Commanding Master} said to me: “Go, place the watchman {hametzapeh: appointed sentinel}; let him declare what he sees.”
7 And he saw riders {rekhev: mounted unit} with a pair of horsemen, riders on donkeys, and riders on camels; and he listened attentively with great vigilance {rav-kashev: heightened alertness}.
8 And he cried, “Lion!” {aryeh: sentinel’s alarm} from the watchtower, “O Lord {Adonai, Majestic Protector}, I stand continually by day and remain at my post through all the nights.”
9 And behold, here comes a chariot of a man with a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said, “Babylon has fallen, has fallen; and all the idols of her gods {eloheha: pagan deities} he has shattered to the ground {la’aretz: earth as place of judgment}.”
10 My threshed one {medushati: subjected to judgment}, and son of my threshing floor, what I have heard from the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Commander of Armies} and the God of Israel {Elohei Yisrael, National Protector}, I have declared to you.
11 The oracle concerning Dumah. Someone calls to me from Seir, “Watchman {shomer: sentinel}, what of the night {layelah: period of darkness}? Watchman, what of the night?”
12 The watchman {shomer: alert guardian} said, "Morning {boqer: break of dawn} is coming, and also night; if you will inquire, inquire; return; come."
13 The oracle {massa: prophetic pronouncement} concerning Arabia. In the thicket in Arabia you will lodge caravans of Dedanim {dedanim: descendants of Dedan}.
14 Bring water to the thirsty, inhabitants of the land of Tema {teima: nomadic region}; meet the fugitive {noded: wandering refugee} with bread.
15 For they fled {nadadu: escaped hastily} from before swords, from before a drawn sword, from before a strung bow, and from before the heaviness {koved: crushing burden} of war.
16 For thus has the Lord {Adonai, Sovereign Master} said to me: “Within one year, as the years of a hired worker {sakhir: fixed-term laborer}, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.”
17 And the remnant {ushə’ar: those left after battle} of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be diminished; for the LORD, the God of Israel {YHWH Elohei Yisra’el, Promise Keeper and Judge} has spoken.