They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!
Parallel translations
- KJV Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.
- BSB They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!
- NKJV Prepare the table, Set a watchman in the tower, Eat and drink. Arise, you princes, Anoint the shield!
- NASB They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; “Rise up, captains, oil the shields!”
- NLT Look! They are preparing a great feast. They are spreading rugs for people to sit on. Everyone is eating and drinking. But quick! Grab your shields and prepare for battle. You are being attacked!
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
Babylon's leaders feast carelessly, then are jolted to arms too late. It matters because it pictures complacency shattered by sudden judgment.
Overview
The scene depicts princes banqueting while the alarm to 'oil the shield' and prepare for battle suddenly breaks in. This recalls the kind of revelry that historically marked Babylon's last night before it fell. Feasting in false security gives way to panic when judgment arrives. The verse warns against complacency in the face of God's certain reckoning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jer 51:39When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,” says Yahweh.
- Jer 51:57I will make her princes, her wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men drunk. They will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,” says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.
- Jer 51:11“Make the arrows sharp! Hold the shields firmly! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance of his temple.
- Dan 5:1–5Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
- 1 Cor 15:32If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
- Isa 45:1–3Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
- Jer 51:27–28“Set up a standard in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her! Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz! Appoint a marshal against her! Cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm!
- Isa 13:17–18Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it.
- Isa 13:2Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voice to them! Wave your hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
- Isa 22:13–14and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”
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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 21:5 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.