Isaiah 21

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¹The pronouncement concerning the wilderness of the sea: As windstorms in the Negev come in turns, It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land. ✦ ²A harsh vision has been shown to me; The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media; I have put an end to all the groaning she has caused. ✦ ³For this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. ✦ ⁴My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned into trembling for me. ✦ ⁵They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; “Rise up, captains, oil the shields!” ✦ ⁶For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, station the lookout, have him report what he sees. ✦ ⁷“When he sees a column of chariots, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys, a train of camels, He is to pay close attention, very close attention.” ✦ ⁸Then the lookout called, “Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, And I am stationed every night at my guard post. ✦ ⁹“Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.” ✦ ¹⁰My downtrodden people, and my afflicted of the threshing floor! What I have heard from the Lord of armies, The God of Israel, I make known to you. ✦ ¹¹The pronouncement concerning Edom: One keeps calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, how far gone is the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night?” ✦ ¹²The watchman says, “Morning comes but also night. If you would inquire, inquire; Come back again.” ✦ ¹³The pronouncement about Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, You caravans of Dedanites. ✦ ¹⁴Bring water for the thirsty, You inhabitants of the land of Tema; Meet the fugitive with bread. ✦ ¹⁵For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, And from the press of battle. ✦ ¹⁶For this is what the Lord said to me: “In a year, as a hired worker would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end; ✦ ¹⁷and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the warriors of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord God of Israel has spoken.” ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Jer 51 ·21 Isa 13 ·13 Jer 50 ·10 Jer 49 ·6 Dan 5 ·6 1 Chr 1 ·5 Gen 25 ·4 Isa 16 ·4

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 21YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 21David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 21Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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