Isaiah · 17 verses
Isaiah 21
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Morning arrives in Isaiah 21 carrying the night with it, and the watchman is invited to ask again—as though the answer has not finished changing.
The feast interruptedvv. 1–10
A whirlwind comes from the desert, bearing an invader from a land of terror. Elam is summoned to lay siege and Media to finish the groaning, while the speaker reels with the pains of a woman in labor and the twilight he once desired turns dreadful. Then comes the chapter's wonderfully ill-timed dinner: table prepared, carpet spread, food and drink underway—until the princes are told to rise and oil the shields. A lookout is posted, and after standing watch day and night he sees paired horsemen. The verdict is sudden and ruinous: Babylon has fallen, its divine images smashed upon the ground. The people are left crushed on the threshing floor, while the speaker reports what he has heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.
Morning, and also nightvv. 11–12
Dumah receives a burden from a voice calling out of Seir. The repeated question asks what remains of the night. The watchman's reply refuses the clean timetable: morning has come, but the night has come too. Inquiry is permitted, though the inquirer is told to return again—a small door left open in a very dark corridor.
Water for fugitivesvv. 13–17
Arabia's caravans must lodge in the thickets, and the dwellers of Tema are told to bring water and food to refugees. These fugitives are fleeing sword, bow, and battle. Then the time is narrowed with brisk precision: within one year, Kedar's glory will be gone, and only a few of its archers and warriors will remain. The final word belongs to the LORD, the God of Israel.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Isa 21:1This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.
Isa 21:2A 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.”
Isa 21:3Therefore 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.
Isa 21:4My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight I desired has turned to horror.
Isa 21:5They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!
Isa 21:6For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.
Isa 21:7When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, fully alert.”
Isa 21:8Then the lookout shouted: “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post.
Isa 21:9Look, 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!”
Isa 21:10O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.
Isa 21:11This is the burden against Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”
Isa 21:12The watchman replies, “Morning has come, but also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again.”
Isa 21:13This is the burden against Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.
Isa 21:14Bring water for the thirsty, O dwellers of Tema; meet the refugees with food.
Isa 21:15For they flee from the sword—the sword that is drawn—from the bow that is bent, and from the stress of battle.
Isa 21:16For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.
Isa 21:17The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 197 passages were voted onto 17 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 10Jeremiah 51:33For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.”
- 11Genesis 25:14Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
- 1Isaiah 14:23“I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
- 6Ezekiel 33:2–7“Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: ‘Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land choose a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman,
- 9Revelation 18:2And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.
- 10Micah 4:13Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
- 11Obadiah 1:1–16This is the vision of Obadiah: This is what the Lord GOD says about Edom—We have heard a message from the LORD; an envoy has been sent among the nations to say, “Rise up, and let us go to battle against her!”—
- 1Jeremiah 51:42The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered in turbulent waves.
- 1Isaiah 13:1This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
- 2Jeremiah 49:34This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.
- 2Isaiah 33:1Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
- 3Isaiah 13:8Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear.
- 6Habakkuk 2:1–2I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the ramparts. I will watch to see what He will say to me, and how I should answer when corrected.
- 6Ezekiel 3:17“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me.
- 9Jeremiah 51:8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
- 9Revelation 14:8Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
Onward