The pronouncement about Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, You caravans of Dedanites.
Parallel translations
- WEB The burden on Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, you caravans of Dedanites.
- KJV The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
- BSB This is the burden against Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.
- NKJV The burden against Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, O you traveling companies of Dedanites.
- NLT This message came to me concerning Arabia: O caravans from Dedan, hide in the deserts of Arabia.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
An oracle concerning Arabia pictures caravans driven to lodge in the wilderness. It matters because it foretells disruption and danger coming upon the Arabian trade routes.
Overview
The 'burden on Arabia' addresses the Dedanite caravans forced to take refuge in the desert thickets. The image suggests flight and insecurity rather than the safety of established routes. Even the prosperous trading peoples of Arabia fall within God's announced judgments. It signals that the coming upheaval will reach far and wide.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jer 25:23–24Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off;
- 1 Chr 1:32The sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: she bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.
- Ezek 27:15The men of Dedan were your traffickers; many islands were the market of your hand: they brought you in exchange horns of ivory and ebony.
- Gen 25:3Jokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.
- Gal 4:25For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children.
- Isa 13:1The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
- 1 Kgs 10:15besides that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mixed people, and of the governors of the country.
- Ezek 27:20–21Dedan was your trafficker in precious cloths for riding.
- 1 Chr 1:9The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
- Jer 49:28–33Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck. Yahweh says: “Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east.
- Isa 13:20It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 21:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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