1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Isaiah 21:1 | The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the south, it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. | The desert of the sea. So Babylon is here called, because from a city as full of people as the sea is with water, it was become a desert. (Challoner) --- After its fall, it was mostly inundated, Isaias 13:20. --- Land. Media and Persia, which lay to the south, and were not so beautiful as the environs of Babylon. |
| Isaiah 21:2 | A grievous vision is told me: he that is unfaithful dealeth unfaithfully: and he that is a spoiler, spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease. | Spoileth. Baltassar is incorrigible, or his opponents must proceed. (Calmet) --- Elam; that is, O Persia: (Challoner) Cyrus, and Darius, the Mede. (Calmet) --- The former nation was weak, and the latter strong. (Worthington) --- Cease. The enemy will shew no pity; nor shall I; as Babylon did not heretofore. (Haydock) |
| Isaiah 21:3 | Therefore are my loins filled with pain; anguish hath taken hold of me, as the anguish of a woman in labour: I fell down at the hearing of it: I was troubled at the seeing of it. | Pain. He bewails the crimes and the fall of Babylon, which at this time was in amity with Ezechias, ver. 10. (Calmet) |
| Isaiah 21:4 | My heart failed; darkness amazed me: Babylon, my beloved, is become a wonder to me. | Babylon. Protestants, "the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me." Septuagint, "My soul is turned into fear." (Haydock) |
| Isaiah 21:5 | Prepare the table; behold in the watch-tower them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield. | Drink. Persians refresh yourselves. --- Take up. Hebrew, "anoint." He may also allude to the Babylonians, who were feasting. |
| Isaiah 21:6 | For thus hath the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman; and whatsoever he shall see, let him tell. | |
| Isaiah 21:7 | And he saw a chariot, with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed. | Camel. These two riders are the kings of the Persians and Medes. (Challoner) --- The sentinel, placed by Isaias, in spirit, or rather by the king of Babylon, brings these tidings. (Calmet) |
| Isaiah 21:8 | And a lion cried out, I am upon the watch-tower of the Lord, standing continually by day; *and I am upon my ward, standing whole nights. Habacuc 2:1. | Out. Literally, "He cried, a lion." (Haydock) --- Cyrus appears like one. Septuagint, "And call Urias to the watch-tower," etc., Isaias 8:2. |
| Isaiah 21:9 | Behold this man cometh; the rider upon the chariot, with two horsemen, and he answered, and said: *Babylon is fallen, she is fallen, and all the graven gods thereof are broken unto the ground. Jeremias 51:8.; Apocalypse 14:8. | Horsemen, drawn by the ass and camel, ver. 7. This was verified long after. |
| Isaiah 21:10 | O my threshing, and the children of my floor, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you. | Floor: you who must shortly be reduced to the utmost distress. Baladan was friendly to Ezechias. But Assaradon having seized Babylon, took Manasses prisoner; and the city thenceforward continued to fill up the measure of its sins. (Calmet) |
| Isaiah 21:11 | The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the night? watchman, what of the night? | Duma. That is, Idumea, or Edom. (Challoner) --- It was a city of that country, twenty miles from Eleutheropolis. (St. Jerome) --- Assaradon desolated Idumea the year following, ver. 16. The Jews absurdly apply to Rome what is said of Edom. (St. Jerome) (Calmet) |
| Isaiah 21:12 | The watchman said: The morning cometh, also the night: if you seek, seek: return, come. | Night. Instead of joy, I must announce dreadful things. (Haydock) |
| Isaiah 21:13 | The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dedanim. | Arabia. This sentence is not in the Roman (Calmet) or Alexandrian Septuagint, (Haydock) and Dedan is a city of Idumea. (Calmet) --- The Ismaelites are threatened. (Worthington) |
| Isaiah 21:14 | Meeting the thirsty, bring him water, you that inhabit the land of the south; meet with bread him that fleeth. | Water. To neglect this was to be accessary to another's death, in those dreary regions, Isaias 16:3., and Deuteronomy 23:2. |
| Isaiah 21:15 | For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle. | |
| Isaiah 21:16 | For thus saith the Lord to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away. | Hireling; counting precisely, Isaias 16:14. (Calmet) --- Cedar: Arabia, (Challoner) near to Edom. (Calmet) |
| Isaiah 21:17 | And the residue of the number of strong archers of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord, the God of Israel, hath spoken it. |