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Isaiah 21

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📖 Isaiah introduction

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1This message came to me concerning Babylon—the desert by the sea: Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert, like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev. ✦ 2I see a terrifying vision: I see the betrayer betraying, the destroyer destroying. Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes, attack and lay siege. I will make an end to all the groaning Babylon caused. ✦ 3My stomach aches and burns with pain. Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me, like those of a woman in labor. I grow faint when I hear what God is planning; I am too afraid to look. ✦ 4My mind reels and my heart races. I longed for evening to come, but now I am terrified of the dark. ✦ 5Look! 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! ✦ 6Meanwhile, the Lord said to me, “Put a watchman on the city wall. Let him shout out what he sees. ✦ 7He should look for chariots drawn by pairs of horses, and for riders on donkeys and camels. Let the watchman be fully alert.” ✦ 8Then the watchman called out, “Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord. Night after night I have remained at my post. ✦ 9Now at last—look! Here comes a man in a chariot with a pair of horses!” Then the watchman said, “Babylon is fallen, fallen! All the idols of Babylon lie broken on the ground!” ✦ 10O my people, threshed and winnowed, I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said, everything the God of Israel has told me. ✦ 11This message came to me concerning Edom: Someone from Edom keeps calling to me, “Watchman, how much longer until morning? When will the night be over?” ✦ 12The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but night will soon return. If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.” ✦ 13This message came to me concerning Arabia: O caravans from Dedan, hide in the deserts of Arabia. ✦ 14O people of Tema, bring water to these thirsty people, food to these weary refugees. ✦ 15They have fled from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow and the terrors of battle. ✦ 16The Lord said to me, “Within a year, counting each day, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. ✦ 17Only a few of its courageous archers will survive. I, the Lord, the God of Israel, have spoken!” ✦

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

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.

Where this chapter connects

Jer 51 ·21Isa 13 ·13Jer 50 ·10Jer 49 ·6Dan 5 ·61 Chr 1 ·5Gen 25 ·4Isa 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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