3. Therefore, I’m shaken to my core in anguish.Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor.I’m too bent over to hear,too dismayed to see.
4. My heart pounds; convulsions overpower me.He has turned my evening of pleasure into dread—
5. setting the table, spreading the cloth, eating, drinking."Arise, captains!Polish the shields."
6. The Lord said this to me:"Go, post a lookout to report what he sees.
7. When he sees chariots, pairs of horsemen,donkey riders, camel riders,he should listen carefully,carefully, very carefully."
8. Then the seer called out:"Upon a watchtower, Lord,I’m standing all day;and upon my observation postI’m stationed throughout the night.
9. Here they come:charioteers, pairs of horsemen!"One spoke up and said,"Fallen, fallen is Babylon,and all the images of her godsare shattered on the ground!"
10. Oh, my downtrodden people, threshed on my threshing floor,what I heard from the Lord of heavenly forces,the God of Israel, I reported to you.
11. An oracle about Dumah.Someone is calling to me from Seir:"Guard, how long is the night?Guard, how long is the night?"
12. The guard said,"Morning has come, but it is still night.If you must inquire, inquire;come back again."