HOLY BIBLE: Isaiah 21 (original) (raw)

6 ὅτι οὕτως εἶπεν κύριος πρός με βαδίσας σεαυτῷ στῆσον σκοπὸν καὶ ὃ ἂν ἴδῃς ἀνάγγειλον 7 καὶ εἶδον ἀναβάτας ἱππεῖς δύο ἀναβάτην ὄνου καὶ ἀναβάτην καμήλου ἀκρόασαι ἀκρόασιν πολλὴν 8 καὶ κάλεσον Ουριαν εἰς τὴν σκοπιὰν κυρίου καὶ εἶπεν ἔστην διὰ παντὸς ἡμέρας καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἔστην ὅλην τὴν νύκτα 9 καὶ ἰδοὺ αὐτὸς ἔρχεται ἀναβάτης συνωρίδος καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν πέπτωκεν Βαβυλών καὶ πάντα τὰ ἀγάλματα αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ χειροποίητα αὐτῆς συνετρίβησαν εἰς τὴν γῆν 10 ἀκούσατε οἱ καταλελειμμένοι καὶ οἱ ὀδυνώμενοι ἀκούσατε ἃ ἤκουσα παρὰ κυρίου σαβαωθ ὁ θεὸς τοῦ Ισραηλ ἀνήγγειλεν ἡμῖν

6 Yes, the Lord’s word has came to me, Go and bid the watchman stand at his post, to give tidings of all he sees. 7 A chariot he saw, with two out-riders, one that rode on an ass, and one that rode on a camel; looked long at them, watching them eagerly. 8 Then he cried, Lonely as lion am I, that have charge of the Lord’s watch-tower; day after day I have stood here, night after night I keep my post. 9 Nearer now, the chariot and its two outriders; Tidings! cries charioteer. Babylon has fallen, has fallen; images of the gods she worshipped have come crashing to the ground.[3] 10 My countrymen, winnowed with me in the same threshing-floor of trial, from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, such tidings I bring.

6
Hæc enim dixit mihi Dominus:
Vade, et pone speculatorem,
et quodcumque viderit annuntiet. 7
Et vidit currum duorum equitum,
ascensorem asini,
et ascensorem cameli;
et contemplatus est diligenter multo intuitu. 8
Et clamavit leo:
Super speculam Domini ego sum,
stans jugiter per diem;
et super custodiam meam ego sum,
stans totis noctibus. 9
Ecce iste venit ascensor
vir bigæ equitum;
et respondit, et dixit:
Cecidit, cecidit Babylon,
et omnia sculptilia deorum ejus
contrita sunt in terram. 10
Tritura mea et filii areæ meæ,
quæ audivi a Domino exercituum,
Deo Israël,
annuntiavi vobis.

[1] The desert by the sea is evidently Babylon. Some think this prophecy refers to the defeat of Merodach-Baladan, who was friendly to Juda (see ch. 39 below), which would explain the prophet’s sympathy. Others connect it with the defeat of Baltassar (Dan. 5), supposing verse 5 here to be an allusion to Baltassar’s feast; in that case, the prophet must be speaking in an assumed character, or perhaps in irony.

[2] ‘Babylon’; the Hebrew text has ‘twilight’.

[3] It is not clear how much of this verse, if any, is spoken by the watchman.

[4] Duma, which is the Hebrew word for silence, is here used to represent Idumaea, or Edom; some think, by a play upon words.

[5] The Hebrew forms ‘in Arabia’ and ‘at evening’ differ from one another only minutely. The Hebrew text reads ‘in Arabia’ twice over; some modern scholars, on the contrary, give this prophecy the heading ‘A burden (or, oracle) at evening’.

[6] Cf. 16.14 above; the reference is perhaps to the time of year at which labourers were paid off.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd