Like windstorms that sweep through the Negev,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrifying place.
² An ominous vision has been shown to me.
The betrayer betrays; the destroyer destroys.
Elam, attack! Media, lay siege! ^[3]
I will bring all her groaning to an end.

³ That is why I am full of anguish.
Pain has taken hold of me,
    like the pain of a woman in labor.
I am stunned by what I hear,
terrified by what I see.
⁴ My heart pounds!
I am shaking with fear.
The twilight that I longed for is making me quake with terror.
⁵ They prepare the table.
They spread out the luxurious carpets.
They eat. They drink.
“Officers! Get up and oil your shields!”
⁶ Yes, this is what the Lord said to me:
    Go, post a watchman.
    Have him declare what he sees.
⁷     When he sees chariots pulled by teams of horses,
    riders on donkeys, and riders on camels,
    have him listen carefully—very carefully.
⁸ The lookout ^[4] cried out:
    Lord, ^[5] I stand on the watchtower day after day,
    and every night I stay at my post.
⁹     Now, look! Here come men in chariots pulled by teams of horses.
Then he announced:
    Fallen, fallen is Babylon!
    All the images of her gods lie broken on the ground.

Someone calls out to me from Seir,
    Watchman, how much of the night remains?
    Watchman, how much of the night remains?
¹² The watchman said:
    Morning is coming, but night is coming again.
    If you want to ask, go ahead and ask.
    Then return! Come back again.

You spend the night among the thickets of Arabia,
you caravans of Dedanites.
¹⁴ Bring water for the thirsty,
you who live in Tema.
Bring bread for the refugees.
¹⁵ They fled from the sword,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the heat of battle.

What is troubling you now?
Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?
² Why is the town full of shouting?
Why is the joyful city full of turmoil?
Your fallen were not run through with the sword.
Your dead did not fall in battle.
³ All your rulers fled together,
captured by archers without bows.
All your refugees were caught together.
They had fled far away.
⁴ That is why I said,
“Look away from me.
I will weep bitterly.
Do not try to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter
    of my people.” ^[7]
5 For it is a day of turmoil, trampling, and terror.
This has come from the Lord, the God of Armies,
in the Valley of Vision.
It is a day for breaking down walls
and crying out to the mountains.
⁶ Elam picks up the quiver, with chariots and charioteers,
and Kir removes the covering from their shields.
⁷ Your fertile ^[8] valleys are full of chariots,
and charioteers ^[9] are posted by the gate.
⁸ He removed the cover that was protecting Judah.

On that day you looked for the weapons in the House of the Forest.
⁹ You saw all the breaches through the walls of the City of David—
and there were many.
You collected water from the Lower Pool.
¹⁰ You counted the houses of Jerusalem.
You planned to tear them down to strengthen the wall.
¹¹ You built a reservoir between the two walls
for the water from the Old Pool.
But you did not look to the one who had made it.
You did not consider the one who shaped this long ago.

¹² On that day the Lord, the God of Armies,
called for weeping and loud mourning.
He called for shaved heads and for dressing in sackcloth.
¹³ But take a look and see:
    joy and gladness,
    butchering cattle, killing sheep,
    eating meat, and drinking wine.
“Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”