1. The oracle of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negev pass through,so it comes from the desert,from a terrible land.
2. A grievous vision is declared to me;the treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.Go up, O Elam. Lay siege, O Media.All her sighing I have made to cease.
3. Therefore, my loins are filled with pain;pangs have taken hold of me as the pangs of a woman who travails.I am so perplexed at the hearing of it;I am so dismayed at the seeing of it.
4. My heart panted,fearfulness overwhelmed me;the night for which I longedhas turned into trembling for me.
5. Prepare the table,watch in the watchtower,eat and drink.Arise, you princes,and oil the shields.
6. For thus the Lord has said to me: “Go, station a watchman;let him declare what he sees.
7. When he sees chariotswith horsemen in pairs,a chariot of donkeys,and a chariot of camels,then let him pay close attention,very close attention.”
8. Then the watchman called: “O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime,and I am stationed at my guard post every night.