--- title: "Isaiah 21 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary" description: "Read Isaiah 21 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. 2 A grievous vision is" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/isaiah/21" --- [ Read](/kjv/isaiah/21)[ Commentary](/study/isaiah/21)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/isaiah/21) Audio 1 The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; *so* it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. 2 A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.* 3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing *of it;* I was dismayed at the seeing *of it*. 4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.** 5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, *and* anoint the shield. 6 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. 7 And he saw a chariot *with* a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, *and* a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: 8 And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:** 9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, *with* a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. 10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.* 11 ¶ The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come. 13 ¶ The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim. 14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.* 15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.* 16 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail: 17 And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken *it*.* [Isaiah 20](/study/isaiah/20) [Isaiah 22](/study/isaiah/22) ## Commentary To verse 1 But what is this to the prophet, and to the Jews, the object of his ministry? The application, the end, and design of the prophecy are admirably given in a short, expressive address to the Jews, partly in the person of God, partly in that of the prophet: "O my threshing - " "O my people, whom for your punishment I shall make subject to the Babylonians, to try and to prove you, and to separate the chaff from the corn, the bad from the good, among you; hear this for your consolation: your punishment, your slavery, and oppression will have an end in the destruction of your oppressors." - L. NOTES ON CHAP. XXI Verse [Isaiah 21:1](/kjv/isaiah/21/1). ***The desert of the sea*** — This plainly means Babylon, which is the subject of the prophecy. The country about Babylon, and especially below it towards the sea, was a great flat morass, overflowed by the Euphrates and Tigris. It became habitable by being drained by the many canals that were made in it. Herodotus, lib. i. 184, says that "Semiramis confined the Euphrates within its channel by raising great dams against it; for before it overflowed the whole country like a sea." And Abydenus, (quoting Megasthenes, *apud Euseb*. Praep. Evang. IX. 41,) speaking of the building of Babylon by Nebuchadonosor, says, "it is reported that all this part was covered with water, and was called the sea; and that Belus drew off the waters, conveying them into proper receptacles, and surrounded Babylon with a wall." When the Euphrates was turned out of its channel by Cyrus, it was suffered still to drown the neighbouring country; and, the Persian government, which did not favour the place, taking no care to remedy this inconvenience, it became in time a great barren morassy desert, which event the title of the prophecy may perhaps intimate. Such it was originally; such it became after the taking of the city by Cyrus; and such it continues to this day. ***As whirlwinds in the south*** - "Like the southern tempests"] The most vehement storms to which Judea was subject came from the desert country to the south of it. "Out of the south cometh the whirlwind," [Job 37:9](/kjv/job/37/9). "And there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house," [Job 1:19](/kjv/job/1/19). For the situation of Idumea, the country (as I suppose) of Job, see [Lamentations 4:21](/kjv/lamentations/4/21) compared with [Job 1:1](/kjv/job/1/1), was the same in this respect with that of Judea: - "And JEHOVAH shall appear over them, And his arrow shall go forth as the lightning; And the Lord JEHOVAH shall sound the trumpet; And shall march in the whirlwinds of the south." 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