Isaiah 21:5
3 Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.
4 My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror.
They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!
6 For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.
7 When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, fully alert.”
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!
- KJV
- Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.
- WEB
- They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!
- ASV
- They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink: rise up, ye princes, anoint the shield.
- DARBY
- Prepare the table, appoint the watch; eat, drink: arise, ye princes, anoint the shield.
- BLB
- to arrange the table [and] lay out the spread, to eat, to drink. Rise up, O princes, [and] anoint the shield!
- ÅB
- De dekker bordet, vakten våker, de spiser og drikker - opp, dere høvdinger, smør skjoldene!
- OTB
- De setter bordene, de brer ut dukene, de spiser, de drikker! Stå opp, kommandanter, smør skjoldene!
- B1930
- De dekker bordet, vakten våker, de eter og drikker - op, I høvdinger, smør skjoldene!
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Jeremiah 51:11
Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the vengeance of the LORD— vengeance for His temple.
Read in contextJeremiah 51:39
While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may revel; then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up, declares the LORD.
Read in contextJeremiah 51:57
I will make her princes and wise men drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and not wake up,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts.
Read in contextDaniel 5:1–5
Later, King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.
Read in contextIsaiah 45:1–3
This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:
Read in contextIsaiah 13:2
Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
Read in context1 Corinthians 15:32
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Read in contextJeremiah 51:27–28
“Raise a banner in the land! Blow the ram’s horn among the nations! Prepare the nations against her. Summon the kingdoms against her— Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a captain against her; bring up horses like swarming locusts.
Read in context