Isaiah 21:7-9

Easy-to-Read Version

⁷Whether he sees a chariot and a team of horses or men riding donkeys or camels, he must listen carefully.”^[a]

⁸Then one day the watchman^[b] called out,

“My master, every day I have been in the watchtower^[c] watching.
Every night I have been standing on duty.
⁹Look! I see a man in a chariot
with a team of horses.^[d]”

The messenger said,
    “Babylon has been defeated!
    It has fallen to the ground!
All the statues of her false gods
    were thrown to the ground and broken to pieces.”

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Footnotes

Isaiah 21:7 Or “Whether he sees a column of teams of horsemen, columns of donkeys, or columns of camels, he must listen carefully.”
Isaiah 21:8 the watchman “the seer,” an ancient title for a prophet. The standard Hebrew text has “a lion.”
Isaiah 21:8 watchtower A tall building where guards stood and watched to see if anyone was coming near their city.
Isaiah 21:9 a man … horses Or “a column of teams of horsemen.” This might be a team of horses pulling a war chariot or mounted archers in the Assyrian army who often worked in pairs.